AIRLINE CHIEFS CALL FOR TRAVEL PLANS TO TAKE OFF
BOSSES from leading UK airlines say the Government must allow international travel by May 17 or risk thousands of jobs.
The industry insists it has “the tools to enable a safe and meaningful restart to travel”.
The chief executives of British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Loganair, Ryanair, Tui and Virgin Atlantic as well as trade body Airlines UK have written to Boris Johnson. They acted as ministers made it clear the ban on foreign trips will be in place until at least May 17.
When restrictions are lifted, they will be replaced by a risk-based traffic light system.
The airline chiefs said in their letter they recognised rules-free universal travel may not be possible by May 17. They added:
“There can be no economic recovery without aviation. And we are confident we now have the tools to enable a safe and meaningful restart to travel in May – allowing us to return to our job of reuniting friends and family, supporting trade and business and allowing Britons to enjoy a well-earned break again.”
They added: “We believe vaccinated passengers should not be subject to travel restrictions and that testing can also reduce the barriers to travel including for areas that are considered to present some risk.
“Only very high-risk areas would be subject to more stringent measures.”
The PM will today outline the Government’s approach for easing restrictions on foreign travel when its global travel task force reports on April 12.
The traffic light system will be based on a range of factors including the proportion of population vaccinated in destination countries. Rates of infection, emerging variants and access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing will also be factored in.
The letter comes after the same group of airline bosses called on the Government on February 18 to outline a recovery roadmap for the industry so they could plan for the summer.
They also asked for further economic support for aviation to stimulate and strengthen recovery when it comes.