PARIAH BRITAIN
Last hopes of a getaway dashed as more than 40 countries ban our flights
Any last hopes of a Christmas or new year getaway abroad were crushed last night after more than 40 countries banned flights from the UK because of fears over the mutant coronavirus strain.
European governments moved to block arrivals from the UK, leaving plans for holidays or trips abroad to see loved ones in tatters.
Around 250,000 outbound and inbound travellers could be affected between now and January 1. Hundreds of flights in and out of the UK were cancelled yesterday as a result of the bans. At Gatwick around 46 were cancelled and another 85 at Heathrow.
Destinations affected included Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva and Paris and longhaul flights to Russia and India.
Heathrow warned travellers yesterday not to turn up at the airport if they had a ticket to any of the 46 countries which have banned arrivals from Britain.
Travellers with a ticket to a country with a ban in place would not be let in the airport. A spokesman said: ‘We do not want the airport flooded or similar scenes that were seen at St Pancras on Saturday night [after Eurostar trains were cancelled].’
Travel giant Tui said i t had cancelled holidays to Madeira and the Canary Islands up to and i ncluding December 24 after Spain and Portugal joined dozens of other countries by imposing their own bans.
The bans mean the already hardhit travel industry is set to take a further £400million hit.
Several countries took the decision on Sunday to stop planes landing from Britain after the emergence of the mutant strain. They were joined by dozens more yesterday, including India, Argentina,
Canada and Turkey. America was yet to make an announcement. Last night US Assistant Secretary for Health, Brett Giroir, warned ‘everything is on the table’.
Although most UK travellers are already banned, there are a few exemptions. new york Governor Andrew Cuomo said he had struck a deal with British Airways to allow passengers who test negative for the virus to fly to the city’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
BA confirmed a deal had been done. Officials in Brussels and European capitals said the bloc was trying to draw up a continentwide plan which would allow flights to resume.
This could involve travellers from Britain being allowed in subject to testing negative for the virus before take- off or on arrival, an idea being pushed by French president Emmanuel Macron.
But there is no guarantee all countries will agree a common approach, leaving travellers potentially facing a patchwork of differing rules and restrictions.
The current restrictions facing Britons also range from a 24-hour ban which ends in Belgium tonight, if it is not extended, to a block on
‘Where’s the strategy?’
arrivals until January 31 in Bulgaria. Around 150,000 had been planning to travel abroad between this week and January 1. It is estimated a further 100,000 or so were planning to travel back.
Paul Charles of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the £400million cost of the ban was a ‘conservative’ estimate.
He said testing capacity desperately needed to be increased at airports to ensure trips can go ahead if countries demand a negative test before flying.
He said: ‘There is no plan for getting borders opened again, no plan to reassure other countries and get travel bans lifted and no indication of how long the UK may be isolated from so many countries. Where’s the strategy?’
Heathrow also called for testing to be boosted.
A spokesman said: ‘ Whilst we support steps to contain this new strain, the decisions to restrict international travel again will further damage the national economy and jeopardise jobs.
‘We are a trading, island nation reliant on our doors being open.
‘It is vital that the Government maintains its risk-based approach to travel and continues to push for a common international standard for pre- departure testing to ensure people can travel safely and confidently again.’ Mr Macron, who imposed a 48-hour ban on all road, air, sea and rail arrivals from the UK which expires tonight, yesterday told his weekly cabinet meeting that France is ‘in the process of building an appropriate response with our European partners’. Officials at the EU’s executive, the European Commission, will publish a blueprint today for a way forward. However, final decisions about borders rest with national governments.
There is also a chance EU countries will re-impose borders between each other after reports the mutant virus strain has been detected in Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Britain is working closely with other countries to minimise transport disruption, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said yesterday.