Testing can reopen the world to UK trade

We will fall behind the French unless we can safely restart air links with countries judged high risk

Aviation is the lifeblood of the UK’S economy, providing the trading arteries on which our island depends – and Heathrow is its beating heart. On a normal day, a plane takes off or lands every 45 seconds, carrying British exports all around the globe. In fact, we handle 40 per cent of the country’s trade.

Covid has been an economic coronary. For the last four months, aviation has been at a standstill, putting millions of jobs at risk, both those directly linked to aviation as well as the roles indirectly reliant on air travel – from salmon exporters in Scotland, language schools in Liverpool all the way to the theatres in London’s West End.

The blanket quarantine on arriving passengers didn’t just stop people travelling. It cut off trade as well, since most cargo travels in the bellyhold of passenger planes.

Last week, the Government performed some much-needed CPR by announcing a risk-based reopening of borders, categorising individual countries and territories as “red”, “amber” or “green”, depending on the level of transmission in those locations.

Passengers flying in from more than 50 green and amber countries are exempt from quarantine, allowing millions of people across the nation to holiday abroad without having to self-isolate on return.

Equally, visitors can now come here for a holiday without needing to quarantine, allowing inbound tourists to spend in Britain’s hotels, bars and restaurants. Anyone from a red country still needs to self-isolate.

One of the great things about the risk-based system is that it is versatile, ensuring that the policy can quickly adapt to reflect the ever-evolving situation. Countries can go from red to amber and vice versa, depending on their local public health situation.

Although this is a great start, it’s becoming clear that Covid might be around for longer than many of us initially thought, and unless we find a way to fly safely to and from red countries, “Global Britain” will remain dependent on Europe.

The Government’s initial list of green and amber countries named only a handful of long-haul markets, with many of the UK’S key trading partners missing. The most noticeable absence was the United States, a critical market for trade and tourism, which is in the red, even though some individual states might be classified as amber or green.

Early on in the outbreak, we may have queried whether we could safely restore our ties to this nation, but new approaches to testing have solved this problem.

Just this week, Heathrow announced a plan, with Swissport and Collinson, for a trial of testing on arrival, which could provide a safe alternative to quarantine for passengers from red markets.

An even better solution would be to test people before they get on the plane, so that they know whether or not they will be allowed to travel freely on arrival.

France has a plan to rebuild its trading network. It started a trial on flights between Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris and the island of La Réunion, testing people for Covid on both arrival and departure to make sure that the test results were consistent, before moving on to testing on departure alone.

The next step will be to take a similar approach with other long-haul markets, opening up red countries without the risk of importing a second wave.

Britain needs a plan to restart its own long-haul trading network so that the French don’t get too much of a head start. Let’s begin with a trial of Covid testing, just as the French have done, but with Singapore or Toronto. If that is successful, we can roll it out to markets like New York.

We have a huge task ahead of us to rebuild the British economy and to save jobs. As a global trading nation, that won’t happen by cutting ourselves off from the world but by taking a lead in restarting international trade and travel in a way that is safe.

At Heathrow, we are proud of our role as the UK’S hub airport and will work tirelessly to make Global Britain an economic powerhouse.