British Airways considers legal action over UK quarantine
British Airways is considering legal action over the “irrational and disproportionate” quarantine rules due to be implemented next week, in an escalating row between the flag carrier and the government.
BA’s owning group IAG is reviewing possible action with lawyers over a move that it said was implemented without consultation with the industry. Airlines and travel firms have warned that quarantine would destroy any early recovery, just as more flights were set to resume after virtually all passenger planes were grounded at the end of March.
The chief executive of IAG, Willie Walsh, said he had written to MPs on Thursday to explain the damage the policy would cause. BA snubbed a meeting on Thursday night between ministers and other aviation leaders.
Walsh told Sky News that there had been no prior consultation and said: “I wrote to MPs last night to say this initiative has in effect torpedoed our opportunity to get flying in July.
“We think it is irrational, we think it is disproportionate and we are giving consideration to a legal challenge to this legislation.”
Walsh added that he expected other airlines to follow suit. Ryanair, which has often matched IAG’s stance on policies such as state aid, also did not attend Thursday night’s Zoom meeting with Priti Patel and the aviation minister, Kelly Tolhurst, which was joined by all other leading airlines and airports.
BA had previously said it would resume flights in July but said it would review those plans when quarantine rules were first announced.
Its rival Virgin Atlantic on Thursday announced flights would resume from 20 July – a date that would allow another three-week extension of the quarantine rules, which are due to be introduced on 8 June and reviewed on 29 June.
From Monday, passengers arriving in Britain will need to stay at home for 14 days – in effect stopping most inbound holidays, and deterring people from making bookings for future travel.
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The rift between BA and the government has deepened since the decision of the BA boss, Alex Cruz, to decline the meeting with Patel, which prompted Whitehall sources to brand the company “not serious about getting Britain working again”. The meeting came a day after Tolhurst and others condemned BA in parliament for a lack of “social responsibility”, over plans to rewrite the working conditions of its 42,000 staff during the crisis, and make up to 12,000 workers redundant.
Walsh said on Friday that no decisions had yet been made on the redundancies.
