Chief executives of many major airlines are calling for the reopening of transatlantic air travel ahead of the G7 meeting in Cornwall, UK. Executives from American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, United, United States Travel Association, and Virgin Atlantic joined at a panel event to push for reopening. Shai Weiss, chief executive at Virgin Atlantic said: “This overly cautious approach fails to reap the benefits of the successful vaccination programmes in both the UK and the US. We urge prime minister Johnson and president Biden to lead the way in opening the skies, making it a top priority at the G7 Summit. After 15 months of restrictions, the time to act is now.” The executives also highlight the economic toll of continuing the closure, stating that businesses are losing £23 million each day that transatlantic links remain closed.
As reported by Business Travel News, the executives called on UK PM Boris Johnson to remove the need for travellers returning to the UK from ‘green list’ countries to complete a COVID-19 test on arrival. Weiss commented that “there is no reason for the U.S. to be absent from the U.K. green list.” Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, said, "It's clear that the infection rates of our countries indicate an extraordinarily low risk to travel between the U.S. the U.K., provided travelers are vaccinated or can produce a negative PCR test prior to boarding a flight."
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