British Airways calling for unrestricted travel for those vaccinated

London

BRITISH Airways' (BA) new chief executive said vaccinated people and non-vaccinated people with a negative Covid-19 test, should be allowed to travel without restriction as he set out his ideas for a travel restart a month before the UK government finalises its plans.

Holidays will not be allowed until May 17 at the earliest, the government has said, but before that, on April 12, Britain will announce how and when non-essential travel into and out of the country can resume.

Sean Doyle, appointed BA's chief executive last October, called on Britain to work with other governments to allow vaccines and health apps to open up travel, after a year when minimal flying has left many airlines on life support.

"I think people who've been vaccinated should be able to travel without restriction. Those who have not been vaccinated should be able to travel with a negative test result," he said.

Mr Doyle said the roll-out of vaccines made him optimistic that BA would be back flying this summer, but added that the recovery depends on what is said on April 12.

He wants the government to give its backing to health apps that can be used to verify a person's negative Covid-19 test results and vaccination status.

Apps will be key to facilitating travel at scale, the industry has said. Airline staff checking paperwork takes 20 minutes per passenger and is not practical if large numbers of passengers return.

Britain has rapidly rolled out vaccinations and 44 per cent of the adult population, mostly people over 60 years of age, have now had their first shot.

The government has said that any return to travel must be fair and not unduly disadvantage those who have not been vaccinated.

Mr Doyle expects Britain to bring in a tiered framework with destinations put into categories depending on risk, and that will determine BA's summer schedule.

Beyond saying there was "huge pent-up demand", Mr Doyle declined to forecast how strong the season could be.

Budget rival Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline, has said that it hopes to fly up to 70 per cent of 2019 passenger numbers this summer.

BA has struck a deal with a testing kit provider giving its passengers £33 (S$61.76) tests to take abroad.

Travel commentators expect most European airlines to focus on short-haul leisure routes this summer, and Mr Doyle noted that France, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain had all sounded positive about welcoming British holidaymakers.

But he said that BA was also looking further afield.

"We're already looking at new destinations over the summer that we haven't flown to before, and that could be across both long haul and short haul," Mr Doyle said. REUTERS