BRITISH Airways, Easyjet and Ryanair have begun a legal challenge to the UK Government’s plan to impose two weeks’ quarantine on travellers entering, or returning to, the UK.
BA’s owners, IAG, wrote a letter to Procurator General Sir Jonathan Jones, the head of the Government’s legal service, challenging the quarantine rules which are due to start today. Ryanair and Easyjet are understood to be co-signatories.
In the letter, the airlines argue that the rules for incoming air passengers will be more stringent than those for people who are actually diagnosed as having coronavirus. It makes it clear that the airlines will challenge the rules in court today if needs be, and that could mean fighting the case all the way to the UK Supreme Court.
Ryanair and Easyjet have both received £600 million in emergency funding from the Bank of England, while British Airways received £300m. The bailouts came with very few strings attached, and no environmental conditions.
READ MORE: Travellers arriving in Scotland to be fined £480 if they do not quarantine
A Ryanair spokesperson, commenting on behalf of the three airlines, said: “These measures are disproportionate and unfair on British citizens as well as international visitors arriving in the UK. We urge the Government to remove this ineffective visitor quarantine which will have a devastating effect on UK’s tourism industry and will destroy even more thousands of jobs in this unprecedented crisis.”
Both the UK and Scottish Governments have said they believe the quarantine measures will help stop the spread of the virus, but the proposals have been severely criticised across the travel industry.
Should the airlines win in court in London, the judgment would almost certainly apply in Scotland, though a legal expert told The National they would have to go to the Court of Session unless the Supreme Court makes the judgment in their favour.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here