Mixed views from passengers travelling in and out of airport as

THE first plane-load of passengers from Portugal forced to self-isolate in Wales returned home last night. Dozens of passengers arrived back at Cardiff Airport just hours after new coronavirus quarantine measures were put in place.

One of the first passengers to make their way out of the airport, Iftekhar Haris, said: “Absolutely devastated, especially for everyone else. I’m a frequent traveller. I work in Portugal. I have been right throughout the pandemic and it’s devastating, not just for the people who are out there right now, but all the businesses out there who are struggling again.”

Mr Haris, from Cardiff, said he has been across the UK recently but felt safest in the Algarve. Reacting to the different rules across the UK, he said: “We’re meant to be Great Britan, and we’ve got three different rules.”

But Greg Griffiths, of Swansea, was in favour of the Welsh Government’s move. He said: “We had a bit of a warning, didn’t we, so it wasn’t the biggest surprise. We were all aware of the risks, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and we can’t control it. We just have to respect what the Welsh Government want really.”

Mr Griffiths said it was “not ideal” to have to quarantine, but like many others returning yesterday, he had booked the trip on the day when Portugal was first taken off the quarantine list.

The Lewis family, of Cardiff, said they didn’t even realise the Welsh Government could add countries to the quarantine list independent of England. Dad Chris said: “It was really quite frustrating. We knew we were taking a bit of a chance, but we thought that by coming back on a Friday and every announcement so far had been that you have to be