Flights from virus-ridden countries still arriving in UK

‘Officials cannot enforce quarantine’ ‘Airlines accused of profiting’

AIRLINES are continuing to fly thousands of passengers from virus-ridden countries into Britain.

Travellers from Italy, China and Iran – the nations with the highest coronavirus death tolls – are given information leaflets at airports but undergo no other checks.

They are told to self-isolate for 14 days although officials admit they have no way of enforcing this.

Italy’s national airline, Alitalia, has been operating up to four flights a day from Rome to London. Two flights arrived into Heathrow yesterday.

This comes despite the fact that most airlines have stopped all flights to and from Italy – Europe’s coronavirus epicentre – amid concerns air travel could accelerate the spread.

Other flights were arriving into London from Beijing, China, every day last week, while Iran Air is continuing to run three flights a week from Tehran. Iran has the third-highest death toll from coronavirus, behind China in second and Italy in first.

Former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers told The Sunday Times: ‘The time has come to suspend routine air travel from Iran. I have raised this with the Foreign Secretary and I would urge him to take this step.’

Air China and China Eastern have also been continuing to fly from Beijing and Shanghai into Heathrow and Gatwick. The airlines say all passengers from Italy, China and Iran are checked before they board the aircraft, with those with symptoms blocked from travelling.

Last week the Foreign Office changed its advice to warn against all but essential travel to anywhere in the world and said British nationals should ‘think very seriously’ about remaining overseas.

The unprecedented advice has forced airlines to cut their schedules dramatically as passenger numbers flatline.

BA has cut 75 per cent of flights and asked pilots to take a 50 per cent pay cut, while Virgin plans to scrap four-fifths of flights and has asked staff to take eight weeks of unpaid leave.

Tomorrow Ryanair and EasyJet will ground the vast majority of their fleets.

The carriers have been repatriating British holidaymakers stranded abroad but most of those will stop from today.

Up to a million passengers have been trying to return home in recent days, according to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

This includes thousands of tourists in Cambodia, South East Asia, a popular destination for British backpackers and cruise ship passengers. David Wilson and his wife Maureen, from Lincolnshire, were on a cruise which was forced to stop in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

They are now struggling to get a flight home.

‘There are many older couples who are in a similar situation,’ Mr Wilson said. ‘We just just need to get home before flights are cancelled.’ Many stranded passengers have accused airlines of profiting from the situation by charging extortionate prices for tickets home.

Rory Boland, of consumer group Which? said: ‘They say it’s demand-based pricing, but airissue lines need to reflect on whether they want to cash in during this crisis or to help people.

‘When the country is trying to pull together people will be quite angry to hear airlines are charging people thousands of pounds to get home. People will remember the way companies and airlines act during the crisis.’

The Foreign Office, Heathrow and Gatwick were contacted for comment. Air China and China Eastern were also approached.

Alitalia said it is flying five times a week from Rome to London and back to ‘repatriate as many Italians as possible’. It is using a320 aircraft which carry around 150 passengers – meaning up to 750 people could be arriving from Italy each week.