Air transport in turmoil as flights from UK banned

Europe faces significant disruption to air transport as a growing number of countries bans flights from Britain due to fears over a new coronavirus strain, prompting airlines to repeat calls for more testing to keep borders open.

Eurocontrol Director General Eamonn Brennan said there had been 900 daily flights between Britain and the 27 countries of the European Union between Monday and Saturday last week.

“We’ll see a significant impact on the network as a result of the new (coronavirus) variant in the UK,” the head of the pan-European air traffic control agency wrote on Twitter.