Airport ground handler Swissport says quarantine plans could be killer blow for UK aviation firms
The Europe boss of airport cargo handling giant Swissport today declared Boris Johnson's quarantine rules could "kill" the UK aviation sector and thousands of jobs.
All arrivals into Europe have to self-isolate for 14 days from Monday in controversial new laws that have been greeted with scepticism by scientists and fury from the already-crippled airline industry.
Jason Holt, CEO of Western Europe, told the BBC: "Quarantine is a potential killer blow to the sector. An existential threat, to be open with you."
"If you dent consumer confidence or dent the market in such a broad way, nobody buys tickets, aeroplanes don't fly. My business and others like us are unable to earn any revenue."
He said revenues were already down 95%.
"It will make jobs put at risk and could do irredeemable damage to the sector."
Swissport has currently got 95% of its UK staff, 6000 people, furloughed, leaving only 350 still working on cargo and repatriation flights.
Asked if the quarantines could put his company out of business, he responded: "If we can't pay our bills and get our revenue in then we are just like everyone else out there in the economy at the moment, working very hard to prevent that."
He said the sector had asked for the quarantine to at least only be for three weeks but that, while the industry had been in talks with government, companies like his had only learned about the quarantine plan through the media.
Holt said he was "very surprised" when he heard the government was planning quarantines now when it had not done them earlier on in the covid outbreak.
"If it's so important and so relevant to the virus, why wasn't this done in March? It was begun and then it stopped. That is why everybody is quite confused on this."
Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways owner IAG, has said the quarantine plan would worsen the deep crisis in the industry and Michael O'Leary has described it as "ineffective and useless".
