British Airways chief Willie Walsh threatens to sue government over quarantine measures
British Airways chief Willie Walsh has said the company is considering to sue the government over its quarantine measures and is reviewing the situation with lawyers.
The government has introduced a 14 day quarantine for those entering the country, which could severeley dampen hopes that the airline can get back up and running in July.
Walsh told Ian King on Sky News: "I wrote to MPs last night to say the measures have torpedoed our opportunity to get flying in July. We think it is irrational, disproportionate and we are giving consideration to a legal challenge to this legislation. We are reviewing that with the lawyers later on today.
"I suspect there are other airlines that are doing so because there was no consultation with the industry prior to enacting this legislation and we do believe it is an irrational piece of legislation."
British Airways and its parent owner IAG have been at loggerheads with the government over the past couple of days.
Yesterday BA was criticised by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey after the company failed to join a meeting between the Home Secretary and the travel industry to discuss the UK’s coronavirus quarantine plans.
McCluskey said the airline’s workers, passengers and shareholders deserved to know why the airline’s management did not attend the roundtable meeting with Priti Patel on Thursday.
In April, BA announced it planned to reduce its workforce by more than a quarter as it does not expect demand for air travel to return to 2019 levels before 2023.
It has already furloughed around 23,000 staff under the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, which pays 80 per cent of wages up to £2,500 a month.
It is understood that the Home Office received no reply from British Airways after being invited to the meeting, which was attended by several of its airline competitors, including Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Jet2.
A spokeswoman for the airline confirmed neither BA nor IAG were at the meeting.
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