Coronavirus: Airport wants to test travellers on arrival

Belfast International Airport has said it wants to see coronavirus testing rolled out at airports.

Managing Director Graham Keddie told BBC News NI it would provide certainty for the travel industry.

From Saturday, people returning to the UK from Croatia will have to quarantine for two weeks., but those coming back from Portugal will no longer need to self-isolate.

The government announced the change to its travel advice on Thursday.

The travel and aviation industries have faced continued uncertainty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"The changes are not creating any kind of confidence. We need confidence for our industry back because we are a major driver of the economy," Graham Keddie said.

"Testing would help us if we can get that in, but there seems to be some reluctance from the government to introduce testing which seems to have worked quite successfully elsewhere in the world.

"It would help the industry dramatically. We have been working with a partner to get ready and we have a plan ready to go. It would be good across the industry but it's getting the government to accept testing on arrival is worthwhile doing," he said.

People wait for planes at Croatia's Split airport on Thursday

From 0400 on Saturday those returning from Austria, Croatia and Trinidad and Tobago must self-isolate for fourteen days.

Those who are found not following the rules could be fined.

Jack Owens from Belfast is on holiday in Croatia with his wife and daughter.

"It came as a bit of a shock and it is inconvenient because some of the other areas like Spain had plenty of flight options to get back with 24 hours notice whereas with Croatia there are only two flights per week to Belfast so we had no option but to stay until Sunday and do the quarantine when we return," he said.

Jack Owens, with his wife Leah and daughter Penelope, said the new travel restrictions came as a shock

"Thankfully I have been working from home since lockdown and can do so when I return home so I am one of the lucky ones.

"I'm here with my in-laws and when the cases looked to be rising my father-in-law, who can't work from home, changed his flight on Tuesday to head home via London which cost him a couple of hundred pounds," Mr Owens told BBC News NI from Dubrovnik.

Spain and France remain on a list of countries requiring Northern Ireland holidaymakers to self-isolate upon their return due to a rise in the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19.

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