Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group (IAG) who are the parent company for British Airways, warned that placing Portugal back onto the UK quarantine list will cause further “chaos and hardship” for travellers.
The British government could be set to place Portugal back onto the UK quarantine list this week as the country has now gone over the seven-day threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 population.
In the seven days to 30 August Portugal had 21.1 coronavirus cases per 100,000 population, which is up from 19.4 in the seven-days to 29 August.
The British government place countries into the UK’s mandatory two-week quarantine period as soon as the numbers rise above 20 cases per 100,000 population.
Writing in The Times Walsh said, “Another U-turn by the Government, adding Portugal to the quarantine list, will cause further chaos and hardship for travellers.”
Walsh said “ever-shifting list” of countries requiring quarantine means “the UK has officially hung up the ‘Closed’ sign.”
Walsh added, “The government is using arbitrary statistics to effectively ban 160 countries and in the process destroying the economy.
“The government needs to introduce a testing regime to restore confidence.”
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