Humphrey CarterPalma09/09/2020 12:19
TW
2

The media pundits got everyone all excited as they previewed the British Transport Secretary’s announcement on Monday, only to get it all wrong. Both Sky and the BBC were busy predicting that air corridors to islands such as the Canaries and even the Balearics were on the cards but when Shapps addressed the House, he added seven Greek islands to the quarantines list and made it clear that islands will only be added to potential regional corridors when their level of cases drops below 20 per 100,000 people and Shapps said infection rates in the Balearic and Canary Islands remained too high to be removed from the quarantine list.

Nevertheless, the slight chance of air corridors has got the Balearics and the Canaries chomping at the bit again and the Spanish were yesterday claiming that talks were ongoing regarding opening up air corridors while airlines appeared to throw in the towel and announced they are cutting flights by up to 30 percent because of an uncertain outlook.

And, just hours later, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted that he was “concerned” about sharp spikes in England and across the UK. So we seem to be in a Catch 22 situation. With regional lock downs already being enforced in England, in particular in the Midlands, would their case rates be deemed acceptable by the Spanish for air corridors? Perhaps Shapps should look at areas which are safe to fly out from in England before lecturing the Spanish.