Ryanair Slams UK Government For “Gross Mismanagement” Of Covid-19 Pandemic And Pushes For Borders To Be Reopened.
Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the budget airline has criticised what he calls a “mismanagement” of the pandemic and reopening of the economy by UK prime minister Boris Johnson.
He has labelled the Covid-19 travel policy “a shambles”.
“The green list is non-existent because countries such as Malta and Portugal, with lower Covid-19 case numbers than the UK and rapidly rising vaccination rates, remain on amber.
“Meanwhile, UK citizens, almost 80 per cent of whom will be vaccinated by the end of June, continue to face Covid-19 restrictions on travel to and from the European Union, despite the fact that the majority of the European Union citizens will also be vaccinated by the end of June.
O’Leary also questions the removal of Portugal from the green list earlier this month which he claims effectively bans outbound travel.
“UK tourism and aviation needs a pragmatic travel policy, which permits vaccinated UK and EU citizens to travel between the UK and the EU without the need for quarantine or negative PCR tests.
“This will at least allow the UK tourism industry to plan for what is left of the summer season and get hundreds of thousands of people back to work.
“It is time for Boris Johnson to end his gross mismanagement of Covid-19 and the recovery from Covid-19, and take advantage of the successful vaccine programme to allow the restoration of free movement of vaccinated UK citizens and their families to and from the EU, where Covid-19 case rates are lower than the UK and vaccination rates are rising rapidly.”
