Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary slams ‘bizarre’ quarantine rules
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has slammed the government for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, describing its quarantine restrictions as “bizarre” and lacking in “common sense”.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, O’Leary said that ministers were “making this stuff as they go along to cover up the fact that test and tracing is effectively non-existent in the UK”.
He continued: “Our customers are struggling to make any bookings with confidence when you have, for example, the British government locking down Bolton one day, Preston another day, inventing this new restriction that social settings will be reduced to six people.”
O’Leary’s comments come amid rising frustration from the aviation industry over the government’s changing travel restrictions.
“The aviation industry across Europe is bedevilled by government mismanagement”, he added, calling for ministers to impose an airport testing regime to give customers “more certainty” over travelling.
Like many others in the sector, O’Leary pointed to Germany and Italy as examples of countries using such a system to good effect.
The Prime Minister has warned that testing could give a “false sense of security” because it only identifies about seven per cent of cases.
However, officials are reportedly working on other ways to reduce the time travellers need to quarantine for.
But O’Leary insisted that testing helps because it gives customers “confidence”, and is “far better than simply saying we’re banning arrivals from Spain”.
O’Leary was also scathing about Johnson, saying he “wouldn’t take any advice or guidance” from the PM.
Grant Shapps came in for similar treatment, with O’Leary describing him as a “messenger boy” for Downing Street in an interview with the BBC.
He also called for government to give airlines relief from Air Passenger Duty, describing the tax as “unfair and egregious”.
“If Rishi Sunak, who cleverly came up with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, can give people 50 per cent off their meals, why haven’t they reduced APD in the UK, which is still an unfair and egregious tax that stops people visiting the [country]”.
He warned that the airline industry was facing a “terrible winter”, saying that the situation was likely to get worse, with more “mismanagement to come”.