By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – Shares of UK airlines were trading lower on Monday morning after the companies and industry body highlighted a “haphazard and disproportionate” approach by the government in response to Omicron.
In a letter sent to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the heads of British Airways, EasyJet (LON:EZJ), Jet2 (LON:JET2), Ryanair (LON:RYA) and others were critical of the new restrictions, which include pre-departure testing for UK arrivals and self-isolation until a negative test result from a post-arrival test.
“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,” the group wrote in the letter.
“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.”
Omicron fears – At least one UK patient dead
Fears that the Omicron variant is more transmissible prompted the UK government to act although many have argued that the severity of illness is lower from the Omicron variant compared to Delta and other previous variants.
Nevertheless, Johnson confirmed that at least one patient is confirmed to have died with the new Omicron variant. It is not yet known what the vaccination status of the patient was or whether they had any previous health complications.
Johnson warned on Monday morning that further restrictions cannot be ruled out before Christmas although failed to highlight what sort of restrictions could get introduced.
Travel stocks decline
British Airways parent IAG (LON:ICAG), Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ), and EasyJet were all trading lower by around 3.5% at midday on Monday.
Jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) was trading lower by around 2.6%.