HOW MANY MORE BLOWS CAN OUR AIRLINES TAKE?
Never hit a man when he is down – except if you’re a government desperately playing catch-up in the fight against Covid-19. The proposed quarantine rules whereby all travellers coming to Britain, including Britons returning from abroad, will have to self-isolate for two weeks and tell authorities where they intend to stay while doing so – aside from those coming from France after last night’s deal – is such a devastating blow that one tour operator told me yesterday: ‘We’re dead and buried.’
The proverbial shutting of the stable door after the horse has bolted has never sounded more appropriate
According to government figures released last week, there were 18.1 million arrivals in the UK by air, land and sea between January 1 and March 22. Of those, just 272 were quarantined. Come on in was the message – and bring your infections with you.
As a result, the UK received a ‘big influx of cases’ during that all-important period, which ‘seeded right the way across the country’, Sir Patrick vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, admitted last week. The 14-day quarantine rule – announced just as some airlines, including British Airways and easyJet, were hoping to start flying again at the beginning of July – suggests ministers are behind the curve. The theory is that when the transmission rate falls to a low enough figure, restrictions on those coming into the country could keep it in check.
But killing off the aviation and travel industries won’t kill the virus. even if an infected person arriving in the UK goes into quarantine, he or she can still pass on the virus while moving to their designated place of isolation. And how would you police those in quarantine to ensure they don’t pop to the shops, sit on a park bench or hop on a bus?
Why quarantine healthy people – as the majority of those leisure or business travellers will be – if the country is past the peak of infections? It would make far more sense to put a greater onus on airports to test departing and arriving passengers. If passengers could be assured a plane had been declared, as far as possible, Covid-free, they would be far less fearful of flying.
‘Airports are ideal locations to create secure testing areas before passengers could potentially spread the virus further in the air,’ says aviation expert Paul Charles. At vienna’s main airport, passengers leaving or arriving can take a Covid-19 test, which costs about £166 and will deliver a result in three hours or so. If it’s negative, there is no need to quarantine for 14 days. If positive, well, they know what to do.
Testing at airports is essential because social distancing on a plane is impossible.
It doesn’t matter who is wearing a mask and who isn’t – and removing the middle seats or fitting plastic hoods on each seat might help restore confidence but won’t significantly limit the spread of the virus.
If the travel industry is to survive, planes need to fly. And, crucially, load factors need to be running at an average of 80 per cent just for an airline to break even.
PUnIShInG healthy passengers for flying will only prolong the damage to the economy. A 14-day quarantine effectively means Britain is closed for business to business travellers. how many of the thousands of holidaymakers still hoping to get away for a fortnight this summer or autumn will want to do so if faced with two weeks of quarantine – which no doubt employers would, understandably, insist be part of their leave entitlement (even if they could allow workers to be absent for a month in the first place).
And how many travel companies will still be in business by the time this draconian restriction is lifted? Precious few, sadly.