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United States
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UK gov’t urged to open US transatlantic air corridor
The UK airline industry is urging government backing for an airport testing trial to open up UK-US flight routes.
Multi-million-dollar trade deals are at risk without it, according to research commissioned by Airlines UK and Heathrow Airport.
It says British business is losing £32 million ($41 million) a day because there is no ‘air bridge’ between the two countries.
They want to start a pilot scheme, between London and New York City, in which travelers would quarantine, then be tested before flying, and get tested again at the other end.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland Kaye urged the government to back the trial.
He said: "If you believe in Brexit and a truly global Britain that leads the world in trade, restarting safe travel and trade with the US must also be your battle. As long as the skies between the US and the UK remain closed, Brexit will not mean Brexit."
He told Radio 4’s Today program that the importance of connections between the UK and the US cannot be overestimated.
"It’s hugely important for tourism and business. Unless we can start to normalize trade with the US, then jobs will be lost."
He said the pilot program between New York City and London would be a ‘good place to start’.
"We can control who is flying from where, with testing before people get on planes, quarantining at home before flying, then taking another test on arrival."
He added the pilot could become a ‘common standard’ that could be replicated around the world and ‘globally get moving again’.
The study, by analysts York Aviation, found that the UK GDP will lose £11 billion as a result of the closed route between the US and the UK with a significant proportion falling in the final quarter of the year.
"By the beginning of October the closed air corridor between the US and the UK will be costing the UK economy £32 million each day the air corridor remains closed," said the report.
This is based on a collapse in passengers of 92% from March, when lockdown was introduced, to 85% in September, compared with 2019.
The study found it was not just London and South East England that were being impacted, with 80 weekly flights between the US and six regional airports also currently on ice.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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