International travel must be protected in future pandemics, MEPs urged, describing Covid’s restrictions imposed by the UK government as confusing, arbitrary and disproportionate.
The Commons Transport Selection Committee said the government needs to learn from the coronavirus pandemic to create a predictable and transparent system for future public health crises to support passengers and the aviation industry.
A critical report says restrictions on travel abroad during the pandemic are “disproportionate to public health risks”.
The inter-party commission said the restrictions should be comparable to those applied in the country, and international travel should not be “excluded”.
The report concludes that “the decision-making process is not transparent or consistent, nor is it based on scientific consensus”, leading to rules that cause “serious financial shock to the sector”.
The Commission also criticized ministers for abdicating all responsibility for the queues, cancellations and delays observed this Easter, as airlines and airports struggled to hire staff in time to resume passenger demand following the sudden removal of all isolation requirements and of Covid.
It says the government is trying to “blame the aviation sector, destroyed by the restrictions and insecurities offered by ministers”, but needs to review its own recruitment and training processes. Airlines and airports are complaining about delays in government security checks on job applicants.
Commission Chairman Hugh Merriman said: “The government’s actions have been inconsistent. This left the industry and passengers confused and unable to plan ahead. This has led to a serious economic deficit for the aviation sector.
“Ministers must continue to protect the sector against future economic shocks and reassure passengers that future restrictions will only be applied in extreme circumstances. Legislation is urgently needed to give the industry more flexibility to hire new staff for the summer, to give more teeth to the regulator to intervene on behalf of consumers and to provide protection against airlines’ insolvency.
He added: “Above all, we want ministers to be transparent with industry and passengers. During Easter, we witnessed a sector in the early stages of recovery and vulnerable to disruption. The increase in demand is encouraging, but a sustained and supportive approach by the government is vital for the recovery of the sector.
The report calls for measures, including the publication of a promised aviation recovery plan; introduction of an insolvency bill for airlines to protect consumers, employees and taxpayers; and giving more power to the regulator to fine airlines for failing to refund customers when needed.
The Association of Airport Operators said the report was a “welcome recognition of the devastating impact of the pandemic on aviation.” Its chief executive, Karen Dee, said: “We join the committee in calling for a comprehensive recovery package that allows our sector to recover sustainably and does not allow the UK to lag behind our international competitors.
The latest indictment against UK travel policy Covid follows a critical report from the National Audit Office last week, which found that the central government had lost track of spending and devised rules for the hoof – and left the taxpayer on the hook for around £ 400 million for quarantine hotels that ministers thought would be paid for by passengers.
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A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport said: “Our priority was to protect public health and these measures have been vital for the implementation of our successful acceleration program, as we have responded to new and worrying options. But we also ensured that they lasted no longer than absolutely necessary, and the United Kingdom was the first country in the G7 to remove all travel restrictions.
“In the future, the government’s approach by default will be to use the least stringent measures to minimize the impact on travel as much as possible, and they will only be applied in extreme circumstances.
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