British aviation industry urges clarity from government

Leaders from Britain’s aviation industry joined forces Wednesday to urge the British government to ensure that popular European destinations face the least onerous coronavirus travel restrictions when vacations are allowed again.

Under the government’s new traffic light system for England, travel to countries in the lowest green category could be opened up to quarantine-free travel from May 17. Arrivals would be required to take a pre-departure test as well as the gold standard PCR test on or before day two of their return to England. They would need to quarantine only if they receive a positive result.

The government has said it will categorize destinations — green, amber or red — after analyzing vaccination rates, coronavirus cases and the prevalence of variants of concern. Given the metrics being applied, countries like the United States and Israel are expected to be on the green list immediately, while much of Europe could be placed on the amber list, which would require travelers to self-isolate at home for potentially 10 days upon their return.

Aviation minister Robert Courts said Wednesday that the government should be able to give more details about how countries are characterized in early May so the industry — and potential vacationers — can start putting plans in place.

“We are giving as much notice as we can,” he said.

Lockdown restrictions are being eased across the U.K. after a stringent winter lockdown and the rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines. However, given that previous waves of the pandemic have arguably been fueled by too-lax border policies, the government plans to take a cautious approach.

With much of Europe in the midst of a surge of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions being re-imposed, there are concerns that popular European destinations, such as the beach resorts of the Costa del Sol in Spain or the Greek islands, may not make the green list.