Ryanair slams ‘idiotic’ air crew quarantine restrictions and cancels all flights to Denmark

British Airways has cancelled all flights between Heathrow and Copenhagen until 16 November at the earliest

Going places? Copenhagen airport before the coronavirus pandemic (Simon Calder)

Europe’s biggest budget airline has condemned the UK’s sudden prohibition on travel from Denmark.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has announced the UK’s first outright ban on arrivals from any country since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The move was triggered by fears about transmission of a mutation of the virus from mink bred at farms in Denmark to humans.

While British citizens and permanent residents in the UK are still allowed to travel, they must self-isolate for two weeks after arrival – along with everyone else in their household.

In another unprecedented decision, the rule applies equally to pilots and cabin crew. The effect is that the children of flight crew cannot attend school for a fortnight, while partners are unable to go out to work.

Ryanair has called on Mr Shapps to reverse what it calls “idiotic aircrew quarantine restrictions on flights to and from Denmark”.

An airline spokesperson said: "We have been notified at short notice by the UK Department of Transport [DfT] that our crews cannot operate flights to/from Denmark without 14-day quarantine upon return to the UK, despite the fact they never leave the aircraft during their 25-minute turnaround on the ground in Copenhagen airport.

“We appealed this baseless decision to the DfT this morning, explaining that there is no scientific basis for any such 14-day aircrew quarantine, but were advised that the transport minister Grant Shapps had made this decision and it cannot be changed.

“We therefore have no choice but to cancel all flights to/from Denmark with immediate effect until this bizarre and baseless 14-day aircrew quarantine is removed.

“Ryanair flight crews have been operating since 1 July, wearing face masks, etc, in full compliance with all EU health guidelines and in over four months of flying there has been no case of Ryanair crew catching or passing the Covid virus onboard an aircraft.”


The cancellations began immediately. Saturday’s departures from Manchester and Stansted to Copenhagen and back were grounded.

“We apologise sincerely to our affected customers for these imposed cancellations over the coming days which are beyond Ryanair’s control," the spokesperson said.

“We will continue to work with the UK government and the DfT to encourage them to waive this baseless and non-scientific aircrew restriction.”

Seats are available for Thursday’s Ryanair flight  from Stansted to Copenhagen for £10.

British Airways operated its first flight from Copenhagen to Heathrow but cancelled Saturday’s remaining two departures from the Danish capital.

BA has cancelled future flights between Heathrow and Copenhagen until 16 November at the earliest.

Ministers are understood to have taken action because of serious concerns about the “significant unknowns” surrounding the new mutation of Covid-19.

The DfT’s statement in the early hours of Saturday morning read: “The government has responded urgently to the latest developments by bringing in a number of measures.

“The decision to act quickly follows the release of further information from health authorities in Denmark reporting widespread outbreaks of coronavirus in mink farms, with a variant strain of the virus spreading to some local communities.”