British Airways calls for vaccinated people to travel without restrictions
15 March, 2021
British Airways' different boss said vaccinated people should be permitted to travel without restriction and non-vaccinated people with a negative COVID-19 test, as he lay out his ideas for a travel restart per month before the UK government finalises its plans.
Holidays will never be allowed until May 17 at the earliest, the government has said, but before that, on Apr 12, Britain can announce how so when non-essential travel into and out of the country can resume.
Sean Doyle, appointed BA's leader last October, called on Britain to utilize other governments to permit vaccines and health applications to start travel, just after a year when minimal flying has left many airlines on lifestyle support.
"I think people who've been vaccinated will be able to travelling without restriction. Those who have not been vaccinated will be able to travelling with a poor test effect," he said.
Doyle said the roll-out of vaccines made him optimistic BA will be back flying this summer, but added the restoration depends on what's said on Apr 12.
He wants the federal government to provide its backing to overall health apps that works extremely well to verify someone's undesirable COVID-19 test results and vaccination status.
Apps will be major to facilitating travel in scale, the industry features said. Airline personnel checking paperwork takes 20 moments per passenger and isn't practical if many passengers return.
Britain has rapidly rolled out vaccinations and 44 per cent of the adult population, mostly persons over 60, have now had their first shot.
The federal government has said any return to travel should be fair and not unduly disadvantage anyone who has not been vaccinated.
Doyle expects Britain to generate a good tiered framework with destinations placed into categories depending on risk, and which will determine BA's summer plan.
Beyond saying there was "huge pent-up demand", Doyle declined to forecast how strong the growing season could be.
Finances rival Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline, has said it hopes to fly up to 70 % of 2019 passenger figures this summer.
BA has struck a manage a testing kit service provider giving its passengers £33 (US$46) tests to have abroad.
Travelling commentators expect most European airlines to focus on short-haul leisure routes this summer, and Doyle noted France, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain had all sounded great about welcoming British holiday-makers.
But he said BA was as well looking further afield.
"We're previously looking at innovative destinations over the summertime that we haven't flown to before, and that may be across both long term and brief haul," Doyle said.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com