EC President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a plenary session of the European Parliament as the Covid-19 outbreak continues, in Brussels, Belgium September 16, 2020. — Reuters pic
The appeal came as data from airports' group ACI Europe, one of the signatories to the September 17 letter, pointed to a “double-dip” air traffic slump, with passenger numbers down 73 per cent in the first two weeks of September, after a 65 per cent decline in August. Ireland, where travel curbs have been challenged in court by Ryanair, moved yesterday to quarantine arrivals from Italy and Greece on the basis of stricter infection-rate criteria than those proposed by the EU.