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The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector Contents

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3. Quarantine and common health standards

The Government’s quarantine policy

16.The UK Government did not implement a border quarantine policy during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, unlike some other countries.20 The Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, explained to the House of Commons on 3 June the reasoning behind this decision:

Some have suggested that public health measures at the border should have been introduced when the virus was its peak. However, at that time, the scientific advice was clear that such measures would have made little difference when domestic transmission was widespread. […]

During the contain phase, the Government had at the borders an enhanced monitoring policy and an approach to identify symptomatic travellers from high-risk areas in the early stages and […] safely triage them through the system. That was applied to those returning from Wuhan on 22 January, and that approach was broadened […] in conjunction with the Department for Transport to the whole of China on 25 January and then to Japan on 8 February, Iran on 25 February, northern Italy on 4 March and the whole of Italy on 5 March.

When there was significant transmission within the UK, border restrictions would have been marginal in their impact on the epidemic within the UK. Ministers at the time articulated that across Government comprehensively […]. At that point it was recognised that transmission from outside would have been contributing a tiny proportion of the number of new infections in the UK.21

17.On 10 May—while the UK lockdown was beginning to be eased—the Prime Minister announced that from 8 June the Government would implement a 14-day quarantine period for people entering the UK from abroad. Aside from some limited exemptions,22 anyone entering the UK—including returning UK residents—will have to self-isolate for two weeks (the incubation period of coronavirus) and disclose details of where they will be staying.23 In England people under quarantine face spot checks and fines of at least £1,000 if they break the rules. The devolved administrations have set their own enforcement approaches.24

18.This measure is aimed at preventing a second wave of infection within the country. The Home Secretary told the House on 3 June:

[…] the transmission rate in the United Kingdom continues to decline, and international travel is likely to resume from its record low. Therefore, the scientific advice is that imported cases of the virus pose a more significant threat to our national effort and our recovery. Travellers from overseas could become a higher proportion of the overall number of infections in the UK, and therefore increase the spread of the disease. The Government are therefore taking a proportionate and time-limited approach to protect the health of the British public.25

19.The scheme will be reviewed every three weeks: the first review will take place the week beginning 28 June. The Government says it will publish information on the criteria that must be satisfied for the health measures to be lifted and these will include:

• the rate of infection and transmission internationally and the credibility of reporting;
• the measures that international partners have put in place;
• levels of imported cases in other countries where there are more relaxed border measures; and
• the degree to which antibody and other methods of testing prove effective in minimising the health risk.26

Reaction to the quarantine policy

20.The Government’s 14-day border quarantine policy has attracted much criticism, including from parliamentarians and the aviation industry.27 Travel and aviation industry representatives have said that the policy will have a hugely negative impact on consumer confidence, the recovery of travel and aviation businesses and the prospect for their employees, and the UK’s general economic recovery.28 International Airlines Group (IAG) Chief Executive Willie Walsh said that “our capacity into and out of the UK would be pretty minimal” in the event of a 14-day quarantine measure.29 Travel commentator Simon Calder told us that a quarantine policy would “effectively wipe out overseas travel for British people for as long as it prevailed”.30 Heathrow Airport Ltd said that a long-term quarantine policy would not just have an impact on the aviation sector but on “all the other economic sectors that rely on it”: “unless there is a clear plan as to how the Government is going to reopen trade, the country will be unable to get back to work.”31 IAG, Easyjet and Ryanair have initiated legal action against the Government challenging the blanket quarantine policy.32

Alternatives to a blanket quarantine approach

Targeted quarantine and “air bridges”

21.There are a number of alternatives to a blanket quarantine policy, including more nuanced ways of focusing policies on higher risk areas and facilitating travel between countries with lower incidence of disease. Some countries, such as Vietnam, have applied a more targeted quarantine policy based on daily or weekly assessments of high-risk countries.33 In evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, Professor Annelies Wilder-Smith from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, suggested that the UK should likewise target its quarantine policy based on a regularly updated list of countries with a clear higher incidence than the UK.34

22.An “air bridge” or “travel corridor”’ would enable people to travel between two countries with similar relative levels of infection without the need to quarantine. On 18 May, the Secretary of State for Transport proposed the use of air bridges as an alternative to quarantine35 but media reports suggested the Home Office initially rejected the idea as unworkable.36 Heathrow Airport Ltd has described air bridges as a “responsible, balanced approach that will protect public health, whilst also stimulating the economic activity that will help the UK’s economic recovery”.37

Health screening at airports

23.More vigorous health screening at airports has been proposed as an alternative, or an accompaniment, to quarantine measures. Airports in South East Asia have used temperature checks on incoming passengers, as part of a package of containment measures.38 Heathrow Airport launched a temperature screening trial on 21 May.39 Another proposal is “health passports”, whereby facial biometrics are used to provide a digital certificate to verify whether the passport holder has had Covid-19. However, the reliability of Covid-19 tests has been questioned.40 The World Health Organisation has also warned that there is insufficient evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 are immune from a second infection.41

24.We questioned the Minister for Aviation about the Government’s decision to implement a blanket quarantine policy in June. The Minister told us that the policy was led by the Home Office.42 She explained that it was being implemented because UK transmission rates of Covid-19 were in decline and there was a need to reduce new cases entering the UK from abroad.43

25.The Government has said it is actively considering alternative measures. On 3 June the Minister told the House that “no option is off the table, and we are looking closely at air bridges, [otherwise] known as international corridors”44 Dr Rannia Leontaridi, Director for Aviation at the Department for Transport, told us that the Department was working closely with UK airports and airlines, trade unions, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and others, to look at the concept of air bridges as a “potential way of working with various countries in the future”45 There have been reported disagreements between Government departments on the criteria and thresholds for any system of “air bridges”.46 The Home Secretary told the House on 3 June that the Government will consider reviewing the current quarantine measures “only when the evidence shows that it is safe to do so, because public health will always come first”.47 We note that school holidays in Scotland and Northern Ireland begin in late June or early July.

26.Giving evidence to the Liaison Committee on 27 May, the Prime Minister suggested it may be possible to remove countries with a low reproduction, or “R”, rate, when the quarantine policy is reviewed at the end of June.48 In respect of “air bridges”, the Prime Minister said:

We will have to agree [air bridges] with the other countries concerned but we will also have to make progress in tackling the disease, and we will have to have evidence that the other countries are in at least as good a position as we are.”49

27.We are concerned about the Government’s decision to introduce a blanket 14-day quarantine period for travellers to the UK from other countries. This will further damage both the recovery of the aviation sector and the wider economy. We are not persuaded that a blanket quarantine policy is the right policy option at this time compared to the alternatives. We support a more targeted and nuanced border control policy that would allow people travelling from countries where the infection rate of Covid-19 is relatively low to enter the UK on a less restrictive basis.

28.In responding to this Report, the Government should clearly explain the reasons for its current quarantine policy and the evidence base it used to make its decision.

29.The Government will be reassessing the quarantine policy in late June and it is right that preventing a second wave of the infection should be the utmost priority in determining next steps. Should the conditions allow in late June, we strongly urge the Government to introduce a more flexible and risk-based approach to border control and people entering the UK.

30.In order to allow the UK aviation industry to plan ahead, the Government should urgently update Parliament with detail about the key milestones and conditions that will need to be met for the current quarantine policy to be revised and ultimately ended.

Common international health standards

31.No common health standards for international air travel have been set in response to the coronavirus pandemic, for instance relating to temperature checks at airports or the use of face masks. We heard that the lack of such standards creates a deterrent and a health risk for both passengers and workers in the sector. Airlines have raised concerns about the impracticality of social distancing measures on planes.50

32.John Holland-Kaye, Chief Executive of Heathrow Airport, argued that international standards were necessary because social distancing measures could not work in airports. The airport had conducted temperature screening trials and was sharing the information with the Government and with industry “to help the UK take a lead in using it to shape future agreed measures for airports in this country, which could form the basis of a Common International Standard”.51 Other witnesses agreed that the UK Government should work with its international counterparts and take a lead in developing common health standards.52

33.The Minister told the House on 3 June 2020 that the Department’s Aviation Restart, Recovery and Engagement Unit was working across Government and the industry to develop internationally agreed health standards,53 We discuss the work of the Unit in more detail in Chapter 6.

34.Aviation is a global industry and there is a need for internationally agreed health standards to minimise the risk to both passengers and workers from Covid-19. The UK has in the past led the way in the creation of global aviation standards and should do likewise for common health standards in light of the pandemic. In responding to this Report, the Government should set out what action it has taken at the international level to drive forward the development and implementation of global health standards for the aviation sector.

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