BA boss Sean Doyle demands test-first system to beat quarantine woes

The BA CEO says government test and release plan would deter people from visiting the UK

Sean Doyle said there needed to be a fundamental rethink to travel policy. Courtesy Aer Lingus

British Airways’ new chief executive has slammed the UK government’s plans to overhaul the travel system that would still see travellers quarantining on arrival, calling instead for a rapid pre-flight testing regime.

Sean Doyle, who took over the role from embattled processor Alex Cruz last week, said the test and release plan announced last week did not go far enough and would stop people wanting to visit the UK.

Under the government’s proposal - which transport minister Grant Shapps said would be in place by December 1- travellers to the UK would self-isolate for a week and then take a Covid-19 test. It would be done privately to reduce the burden on the National Health Service.

If the passenger tests negative, they can leave quarantine. Currently travellers must self-isolate for two weeks when returning from a non-exempt country.

But Mr Doyle said a “fundamental rethink” was needed to international travel and argued that “rapid” pre-flight testing was the way forward.

”Our position at British Airways is that we do not believe quarantine is the solution. We believe the best way to reassure people is to introduce a reliable and affordable test before flying. For the UK this approach reduces the stress on the NHS testing systems within the UK and on policing the quarantine system,” he said at the Airlines 2050 online conference.

“If we look abroad to our near neighbours, we see that business travel and indeed tourism is being prioritised by some countries. We need to get our economy moving again and this just isn’t possible when you’re asking people to quarantine for 14 days. It’s our view that even if that quarantine period is reduced to say seven days, people won’t travel here and the UK will get left behind.”

But speaking at the same conference, Mr Shapps defended the test and release policy.

“My ministerial colleagues and I have agreed a regime, based on a single test provided by the private sector and at the cost to the passenger, after a period of self-isolation and doing those things could achieve our objectives,” he said.

“The next step is to develop how this approach can be implemented.”

Mr Doyle cited the sharp fall in flights from London to New York as evidence of how hard the pandemic had hit the industry. He said that whereas before lockdown, BA would run up to 12 flights a day to New York, now it only has two carrying fewer than 200 passengers.

"We need to work together on a testing pilot so flights can start between London and New York, traditionally one of the busiest airline routes in the world," Mr Doyle said, in his first public appearance in the job.

Blanket quarantine measures were not the way forward, he said.

“At the moment we’re not getting any support or action and we’re not hearing from governments what they’re thinking.”