Airlines in the United Kingdom are pushing back against the latest government restrictions on travel, warning the measures have already destabilized and may create a “permanent scarring” of the airline industry.
UK Airlines Push Back Against Government’s “Haphazard” Approach To Omicron Variant
In a joint letter signed by the CEOs of airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet, and Ryanair, the government’s response to the omicron variant is questioned.
As leaders of U.K. airlines, we are deeply concerned about the haphazard and disproportionate approach by government to travel restrictions following the emergence of the omicron variant. Whilst we fully recognise the need to take steps to contain the initial impact of the Omicron variant, travel has been singled out with the introduction of disproportionate restrictions.
Further, pre-departure and upon-arrival testing clearly add very little value to our Covid protection, but unnecessarily disrupt Christmas for families as well as businesses while severely damaging the UK travel industry
The airlines want testing dropped for fully-vaccinated passengers. Before omicron, vaccinated passengers needed only a lateral flow test upon arrival in the UK, an inexpensive and widely-available test. Now, even vaccinated passengers must obtain a PCR test before departing for the UK and again after arriving. Furthermore, proof must be shown of advance booking, which adds a burden of paperwork and expenses that has deterred many from flying.
Airlines note that the holiday season is critical for their bottom line and account for a period in which 30% of annual ticket sales take place.
Government leaders will meet on December 20th to discuss omicron measures, which promoted the airline letter. Not only do airlines want the testing requirement loosened, they also want economic support to “bridge the sector through the crisis.”
That includes both an extension of existing loans and additional grants to aid payroll in a model much like the United States’ Payroll Support Plan (PSP).
CONCLUSION
Airlines in the UK are frustrated at what they see as a “haphazard” and “disproportionate” response to the omicron variant, that unfairly targets airlines. By mounting a public campaign against the government, the airlines hope to gain momentum ahead of a December 20th evaluation of current travel policy. If flights bans and onerous testing requirements continue, the airlines plan to request a fresh round of government support.
The UK official guidance does not require a pre-arrival PCR test but does after arrival.
It says: “Before you travel to England you must:
” take a COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 2 days before you travel to England”
“book and pay for a COVID-19 PCR test – to be taken after you arrive in England”
Hopefully they can take the money directly from the accounts of the politicians and experts who think it’s acceptable to make these rash moves without any data or facts to justify them.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be punished further.
Of course that won’t happen. What is the solution when the rule makers have no responsibility or consequences for the rules they make? We’re finding out.
The pre-departure test can be a lateral flow test, but the test after stoical in the UK needs to be a PCR. See here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52544307
*arrival
To be fair to them, the government support they have received is almost nothing compared to the billions propping up the LH group, AFKL, and the US airlines. They got the same treatment as hospitality and other affected sectors- just a part-funded employee furlough scheme.
COVID-19: stigmatising the unvaccinated is not justified
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02243-1/fulltext
Dr. Fauci opens up the possibility that the COVID-19 vaccine could be making people more likely to be infected by the virus.
“This would not be the first time, if it happened, that a vaccine that looked good in initial safety actually made people worse.”
https://twitter.com/vigilantfox/status/1470455120513142792
A vaccinated person can just as easily contract COVID and he/she can just as easily transmit it. What vaccination does for you is to prepare your immune system to fight the virus. That’s what it does. It’s not a magical potion that will wipe out the virus (nothing will). So, to pick on the unvaccinated is hateful and ignorant. The only ones they potentially hurt (any more than anyone else) are themselves.
How do we potentially hurt ourselves?
1) Two years of this bs
2) Not vaccinated
3) Never wear masks
4) Not sick in a decade
5) Healthy and thriving
Explain how we are as healthy as can be while huge majority of omicron is in the vaccinated.
We are not hurting anyone
Non-vaccinated people are more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID than vaccinated people are. That’s a statistical fact. And I am glad that all those things are true for you, but many others are different than you. All that said, governments and media creeps talk as if the vaccine cures all and non-vaxxed are superspreaders….and both things are blatant lies. Basically, getting the vaccine lessens the effects of the virus once you get it (and we all will). That’s all it does. I am vaccinated (not boosted) and just had my COVID case – and it was like a cold. Very mild. Would it have been were I non-vaxxed? I don’t know.
But, my opinion is that it’s up to you to decide what to do with your body and thus I am vehemently against vaccine mandates. I also think that mask mandates are silly as the cloth masks only decrease transmission by 10 percent.
Glad we agree on mandates.
That’s all we are really asking for — the choice to decide for ourselves for both the vaccine and masks.
I hope you do not get the booster.
Please look at the DATA and not anecdotal events
Large scale data showed that 1 dose of the JNJ cuts down on transmission by more than 70%
I’m good with the J&J clot shot, but thanks, and as my comment below explains, we are looking at “DATA”
—
Fully Vaccinated account for 9 in every 10 Covid-19 Deaths since August according to latest Official Data
https://dailyexpose.uk/2021/12/03/fully-vaccinated-account-for-9-in-every-10-covid-19-deaths-since-august-according-to-latest-official-data/
Yeah, the Pfizer vaccine works for the shortest amount of time. It should be pulled from the market. But clowns like Fauci and the gang made sure it is the only fully approved vaccine
JNJ, based upon the data, protects you from stopping you from getting the disease at all. But if you get it, it doesn’t seem to help the symptoms since its rate at stopping infection is the same as its rate of stopping severe disease.
Get the JNJ, unless you are at a heightened risk of clotting. If so, get moderna
I don’t want any of them personally and I believe they should all be pulled. J&J and AZ were both pulled in multiple countries through the course of this mess, so I trust nothing and no one besides God and my immune system. currently i’m at risk for COVID. if I get the vaccine, I’m at risk for both COVID and vaccine side effects. just not worth it to me. if it’s my time to go, then it’s my time to go.
And AZ ranks close to the CornaVac vaccine in effectiveness. Glad the FDA did not approve that placebo
FDA approval is meaningless to me considering what they’ve approved that has been pulled before. it’s all a money making operation.
Death > transmission
Fully Vaccinated account for 9 in every 10 Covid-19 Deaths since August according to latest Official Data
https://dailyexpose.uk/2021/12/03/fully-vaccinated-account-for-9-in-every-10-covid-19-deaths-since-august-according-to-latest-official-data/
I wonder why the government even bothered. Their cases/100k counts have been atrocious the last 5 months without the help of Omicron.
Leaving the unvaccinated as a target for anger and crushing confinement that should be directed at governments absolute failure to manage the pandemic is predictable but will have unpredictable results, including mental illness and sporadic murder suicides, divide and rule is as old and as cynical as the men who make the policy. Its an abuse and will come at a heavier social cost than anyone realises, it is the breakdown of society. We now have second class citizens it is socially acceptable to look down from a great height upon.