IAG may sue UK gov’t, BA threatens to sack all pilots

Furious with the British government’s “irrational” changes in its approach to tackling the coronavirus pandemic, British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) owner IAG International Airlines Group is considering mounting a legal challenge against its quarantine plans and is reviewing the situation with lawyers. Airlines with significant British operations had hoped to resume flights from July, but a 14-day quarantine London has decided to introduce on arrivals from outside the country, effective from June 8, will impede that recovery. Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG, told Sky News on June 5 that the industry had not been consulted on the latest quarantine plan and expected other carriers would also consider legal action. Saying that airlines face their “most difficult challenge,” he argued that the UK plan had “torpedoed” any return to flying in July. “We think it is irrational, we think it is disproportionate, and we are giving consideration to a legal challenge to this legislation,” he said. British Airways managed to operate just 485 passenger flights last month, Walsh continued, adding: “We did that by lunchtime on May 1 last year.”Ryanair Holdings CEO Michael O’Leary has previously said the quarantine is “nonsense” and would be “useless.” After Walsh’s appearance on Sky News, the Irish budget carrier commented in a statement: “Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) will support any legal action launched by IAG against this ineffective quarantine.”