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Airlines applaud recognition of EU, US vaccinated passengers
The airline industry has applauded the step change in reopening of inbound international travel from 2 August as announced by the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, in the second policy review.
The Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) welcomed it as the biggest step yet in rebuilding the international travel sector since the partial lifting of restrictions in May.
It will recognise fully vaccinated passengers from the EU and US from next week and is a significant step forward.
"This significant reopening must lead the way so that many other low risk countries with well-developed vaccination programmes can be added at the earliest opportunity without waiting until the October review," Dale Keller, Chief Executive of BAR UK said.
"From August passengers will still have a confusing patchwork of requirements to navigate, but today’s announcement will go a long way towards reconnecting families and supporting the UK economy and jobs."
"Over the coming weeks airlines will continue to urge the UK Government to de-layer and further simplify requirements for passengers."
The change was also welcomed by airlines which heavily rely on trans-Atlantic traffic
"We stand ready to work with government to ensure new rules are smoothly implemented at pace. Recent proof-of-concept trials between Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow and British Airways has demonstrated our readiness to rapidly operationalise an expanded Amber policy, with 99% of customers’ vaccine credentials authenticated at the point of departure," said Shai Weiss, CEO, Virgin Atlantic.
"We now urge UK Government to go further and move the US to the UK’s ‘Green list’ and for the Biden administration to repeal the 212F proclamation for UK travellers," Weiss added.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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