Portugal on quarantine list for Scots
Passengers arriving in Scotland from Portugal will have to self-isolate for two weeks as of 4am Saturday, it has been announced. The announcement came as Scotland’ s quarantine policy was blasted as “ineffective and unworkable”.
Scotland’s quarantine policy has been blasted as “ineffective and unworkable”, with Edinburgh Airport’s chief executive Gordon Dewar saying it will be the cause of “incredibly dark days ahead” for the aviation industry.
In a excoriating open letter to Scotland’s justice secretary, Mr Dewar launched a fierce rebuttal to comments from Humza Yousaf, who had previously said “we can bring the economy back to life, we just can’t bring people back to life”.
Mr Dewar label led the comments “unhelpful” and slammed Mr Yo us a ff or side-stepping and ignoring requests for discussion.
He argued the Scottish Government’s plans to offer jobs to help rebuild won’t work if “you can’t guarantee anyone access to jobs that don’t exist”.
Mr Dewar said it was one of the “toughest experiences” of his career to make 250 staff redundant at the airport, and it is understood the company is concerned business may not return to Scotland if policy decisions continue to be made in the “same manner as in recent months”.
The letter also warns the Scottish Government that it is making decisions which will have an “enduring impact” on the aviation sector.
Mr Dewar wrote: “I am sorry that you felt that such a comparison was appropriate. Noone in aviation has advocated trading lives for the economy, and it is unhelpful to be using anyone’ s loss to make a political point that side-steps or ignores our open request for engagement in seeking better policies.
“A quarantine policy that is a travel ban in all but name makes this incredibly difficult, if not impossible. It is ineffective and unworkable as your own figures show and it is having a damning impact on a range of industries.
“If this is the path the Scottish Government is to continued own, then there are some incredibly dark days ahead. I only have to look at my own business to see the real impact it is having. Saying goodbye to 250 colleagues through no fault of their own was one of the toughest experiences in my career. I don’t want others to have to do the same.
“Decisions taken now will have an enduring impact on the many quality jobs our industry supports up and down the country, and–if those are too cautious and short-sighted decisions – will significantly undermine the county’ s future connectivity and competitiveness.
“The aviation and travel industries are not too big to fail. If the Scottish Government position remains as it stands, you are putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk in aviation the next few months alone. The knock-on risks to our tourism sector are even more profound and we would hope you might reflect care - fully on our concerns and respond accordingly.
“We urge you to reconsider your approach and work with us to find a way to pro - tect public health and rebuild our economy. It is in Scotland’s best interest to do both.”
The comments followed Derek Pro van, chief exe cutive of ASG Airports, which runs Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton, claiming the government was “overseeing the demise of UK aviation”.
He said the sector was experiencing more job cuts amid the pandemic than seen in the coal industry in the 1980s.
“That’s surely not an acco - lade any government would like to have,” he told the BBC.
The comments come as Virgin Atlantic took a step closer to implementing its rescue package, with a High Court judge signing off on the company’s £1.2 billion bailout on Wednesday.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she “absolutely gets” where the aviation are coming from, but said quarantine was still viewed as the best way of reducing the potential impact of Covid-19 being imported from abroad.
She said :“I absolutely get where Gordon Dewar and the aviation industry are coming from and nothing in what I say should be seen as criticising.
“Equally I have got a responsibility[ to keep the county] safe from a virus and these balances are not easy to strike, but we have to do it as effectively as possible.
“It’s not fixed in stone. We do want to continue to explore with the aviation industry and in this instance specifically with airport sand airlines about whether there is a better balance around quarantine, but we’re not satisfied at the moment that simply moving from quarantine to testing would provide enough protection.
“Quarantine is not foolproof, it does not mean nobody with the virus comes into the country, but we judge that it is a more effective protection than testing.”
Ms Sturgeon said she accepted times were hard for airlines, airport sand supply chains, but said the economy and public health must be kept in a “good equilibrium” to minimise harm.
The comments came just hours before Mr Yousaf confirmed passengers arriving in Scotland from Portugal or French Polynesia will have to self-isolate for two weeks as of 4am Saturday.
The measures follow an increase in positive test results for both countries.
The Scottish Government also required travellers from Greece to self-isolate for 14 days from yesterday.