DATA SPOTLIGHT: United Kingdom

26 May, 2020

This year The Blue Swan Daily will feature some of the leading airlines, airports and country markets for air travel. Here, using the extensive profile insights available to CAPA - Centre for Aviation members to deliver a data snapshot, we look at United Kingdom, where a new 14-day quarantine policy for arrivals from Jun-2020 threatens to derail airlines' planned flight resumptions.

The new rules, designed to lower the risk of Covid-19 being reintroduced from other countries, mean that passengers arriving in the UK by aeroplane, ferry or train - including UK nationals - after 08-Jun-2020 will have to provide an address where they will remain for 14 days. There is a £100 penalty for anyone found to have not filled in this ''contact locator'' form and fines of up to GBP1,000 if they fail to self-isolate.

But it has not been well received by the country's airlines and airports which are currently working on the resumption of services. Virgin Atlantic Airways has said it will defer any resumption until Aug-2020 as the rule will diminish any green shoots in demand, while Ryanair Holdings' CEO Michael O'Leary has described it as having "no basis in science or medicine".

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) CEO Charlie Cornish has stated that "for as long as it lasts, a blanket quarantine policy will be a brick wall to the recovery of the UK aviation and tourism industries, with huge consequences for UK jobs and GDP".

There are alternative options like adopting a targeted approach that recognises that many countries are already low risk, or developing what has been described as travel bubbles where restrictions do not need to necessarily be as strong.

AIRPORTS IN THE COUNTRY

SCHEDULE MOVEMENT SUMMARY (w/c 25-May-2020)

ANNUAL CAPACITY (2012 - 2020*)NOTE:*the values for this year are at least partly predictive up to six months and may be subject to change.

WEEKLY DOMESTIC CAPACITY (2017 - 2020*)NOTE:*the values for this year are at least partly predictive up to six months and may be subject to change.

WEEKLY INTERNATIONAL CAPACITY (2017-2020*)NOTE:*the values for this year are at least partly predictive up to six months and may be subject to change.