America: Simon Calder discusses UK travel restrictions
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The two world leaders are due to meet face-to-face next month for the G7 summit in Cornwall. Ahead of the meeting, a number of leading American and British airlines have urged the two countries to allow a travel corridor between the two countries and provide a much-needed boost to the economies, which have been blighted by the Covid pandemic. Airlines also argue easing up travel will have a positive social impact, as families will be able to reunite for the first time in months.
Leading airlines, including British Airways, Virgin, American Airlines and JetBlue, have penned an open letter with the US Chamber of Commerce to urge Mr Johnson and President Biden to reopen transatlantic travel.
They said the upcoming G7 summit, which will take place from June 11-13, would be the perfect time to unveil such a move.
The letter stated: “The return of Transatlantic flying would not only have a significantly positive impact on our respective economies but will also reunite those who have been separated from their loved ones for over a year.”
They added: “Safely reopening borders between the US and UK is essential for both countries’ economic recovery from Covid-19.”
Neither leader has yet responded to the letter.
The 49 signatories also said they consider travel is safe for passengers.
They said: “We are confident that the right tools now exist to enable a safe and meaningful restart to transatlantic travel.”
Free travel between the UK and the US has been banned since March 2020.
Non-US citizens are not allowed to fly directly from the UK into America, which has been the case since March 16, 2020.
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Travellers from other countries are prevented from entry unless they show a negative pre-departure test on arrival.
After arriving in the US, passengers are advised to quarantine for at least seven days – though this is not mandatory.
The UK Government has currently banned travel from the UK for holidays, travel is only permitted for a handful of reasons such as for work.
From May 17, travel restrictions depend on whether the country is in the green, amber or red list.
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The US has been placed in the amber restrictions, which means travellers must quarantine and take two Covid-19 tests.
Britons were told they “should not be travelling to ‘amber’ and ‘red’ countries for leisure.”
Airlines have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, as people were told to stay at home and banned from travelling abroad.
Airlines for America recently reported losses of $7billion (£5billion) in the first quarter of 2021 alone.
They said this was on top of the $35billion (£25billion) losses seen in 2020.
British Airways owner IAG reported a record £6.4billion loss last year.
IAG’s passenger revenues plunged by 75 percent from £19.2billion to £4.7billion in 2020.
The group said passenger capacity was only a third of 2019 and in the first quarter of 2021 they were running at only a fifth of pre-Covid levels.
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