Mayor and Birmingham Airport urge Government to re-think quarantine restrictions

Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street and Birmingham Airport chief executive Nick Barton have called on the Government to ease quarantine restrictions on travellers arriving from abroad over fears of the damage it will cause to the region’s economy.

In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the pair warn that the aviation quarantine rules will have a long-term detrimental effect on both the West Midlands’ travel industry and its business tourism sector.

Under the restrictions introduced last week, travellers arriving from abroad are ordered to spend 14 days in isolation, which Street says makes many business and holiday trips unrealistic.

Barton says this is of “huge concern” to both the airport, which has seen a 90% fall in passenger numbers due to the pandemic, and the region’s business tourism industry which relies significantly on travel from abroad.

The restrictions are due to come under review later this month, and Street and Birmingham Airport are urging the government to adopt a more flexible approach, particularly with regard to those arriving from low risk countries or locations.

Suggestions include offering testing on arrival, or the introduction of air bridges with key countries that have low transmission rates.

Street said: “What the Government is trying to achieve from a public health perspective with these measures is absolutely right, but the 14-day quarantine will have unintended and severe consequences for our regional economy. The EIG and Birmingham Airport believe these public health outcomes can be achieved through other measures, such as testing on arrival and air bridges.

“Not only do the current measures hamper tourism, with international tourists contributing more than £800m each year to the local economy, but it also impacts our businesses. The West Midlands is very proudly home to a number of major businesses – such as JLR, National Express, and Mondelez – who rely on international travel to conduct business. The quarantine restrictions are not only hampering their recovery, but the recovery of our region.”

As well as the impact on both the tourism and business tourism sectors, there are concerns about the damage these measures will to do Birmingham Airport. The airport, which has already had to pause its £500m expansion plans because of Coronavirus, employs 7,000 workers in the West Midlands directly, and helps support a further 31,000 more across the region.

Barton said: “We fully support the need to protect public health. However, the longer the blanket quarantine policy is in place, greater and more damaging impacts will be felt by our business and industry as a whole. We are urgently calling for this policy to be amended to take a risk-based approach, such as using air bridges or similar initiatives, to make it effective. We need urgent clarity on the travel restrictions to stimulate demand so that airlines have the confidence to restart services and support the UK’s economic recovery.”