A number of European countries have or are planning to temporarily suspend commercial flights from the UK over fears of a more infectious strain of the Covid-19 virus that is spreading rapidly in London and the east and southeast of England.
These new flight restrictions will likely dim the prospects for a quick recovery in European air travel demand.
The Netherlands announced yesterday that all passenger flights from the UK would be banned from 6am local time today until 1 January, after a case of the new Covid-19 strain was confirmed by health authorities. This prompted the government to transition London and large parts of southeast and east of England to a harsher lockdown - the most severe since the entire country was put under lockdown in late March.
Belgium today became the second country to impose a ban on all commercial flights from the UK as well as rail connections between both countries, but from midnight local time today and only for an initial 24 hours. Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said that additional measures will be reviewed in due course.
Italy, also, today communicated plans to impose such measures, making it the third European country to suspend all flights from the UK. "As the government, our duty is to protect Italians and for this reason... we will sign, with the health minister, a decree suspending flights to and from Britain," Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said. But he did not specify when the ban would come into effect or for how long it will last.
German officials have indicated that they are looking into "serious options" regarding inbound flights from the UK, but as of now, no action has been taken, while neighboring Austria has said it will halt flights from the UK, without giving any timeframe.
These moves come amid new and stricter measures that were imposed in London, and both the southeast and east of England from today. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said these regions have been immediately put under Tier 4 restrictions from Tier 3 previously, as a result of the rapid spread of the new Covid-19 variant. The British government has said this strain is 70pc more transmissible than existing strains.
The new measures introduced in these regions include the closure of non-essential shops, gyms and entertainment venues, and mobility restrictions.
"While we are fairly certain the variant is transmitted more quickly, there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more severe illness," Johnson said. "Equally there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant," he added.
These latest flight curbs will likely deal a blow to what has been a fragile recovery in European air travel demand since the height of the global travel restrictions early in the second quarter.
Four of the major airport hubs in Europe have reported a more than 80pc decline in passenger numbers in November on the year following the imposition of restrictions, with little to suggest any significant demand improvement in December.
