British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet have filed a formal legal challenge to the UK government’s quarantine policy which came into force this week, and asked that it be heard as soon as possible.
They say the policy will have a devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy and destroy thousands of jobs.
In a statement, the three airlines said they had not seen any evidence on how and when so-called “air bridges”, which allow quarantine-free travel between the UK and other countries with low infection rates, could be implemented.
They have called on the government instead to re-adopt a previous policy, where quarantine was limited to travellers from high-risk countries.
The challenge claims that:
*the quarantine rules for travellers are more stringent than those applied to people who actually have Covid-19
*there was no consultation and no scientific evidence provided to support the policy.
