Flights from UK banned

PARIS - Europe faces significant disruption to air transport as a growing number of countries bans flights from Britain because of fears over a new coronavirus strain, prompting airlines to repeat calls for more testing to keep borders open.

Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan said there had been 900 daily flights between Britain and the 27 countries of the European Union between Monday and Saturday last week.

“We’ll see a significant impact on the network as a result of the new (coronavirus) variant in the UK,” the head of the pan-European air traffic control agency wrote on Twitter.

Already reeling from the loss of some six million flights since March due to the pandemic, airlines faced a flood of overnight restrictions echoing the sudden impact of ash from an Icelandic volcano eruption in 2010, albeit on reduced traffic levels.

“The measures came in at extremely short notice,” an airline industry official told Reuters.

Shares in European airlines fell sharply, led by UK-based carriers easyJet, down almost 10 per cent, and British Airways owner IAG, down 9 per cent.

As EU officials met to try to forge a co-ordinated response, airlines issued a fresh appeal to step up testing regimes in order to keep borders open.