A gauge of European travel and leisure stocks has gained more than 22% this year on expectations that economies will reopen. Still, traffic is nowhere near normal levels, and the airline industry’s chief lobbying group widened its estimate for losses this year by about a quarter, citing Covid-19 flare-ups and mutations.
One concern is huge queues at borders due to stringent document checks that must be processed by officers, so arriving passengers can’t use the electronic gates that have been installed in recent years. London’s Heathrow Airport is reporting lines at the immigration desks of as long as six hours, and says police have had to be called in to calm travelers furious about the long waits.
By early May, the U.K. is set to announce its so-called “green list” of countries whose citizens will be allowed in with less stringent quarantine and Covid testing requirements. Airlines have been lobbying for the U.S. to be included on that list, and the governments of the two countries have been discussing a possible travel corridor that would ease restrictions on visitors.
Though the details are still being negotiated, the EU aims to introduce vaccine passes meant to ease travel by June. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told the New York Times that the EU plans to open its doors to American tourists who’ve been fully vaccinated. For travel within the EU, members states will issue “digital green certificates” intended to prove that holders have been vaccinated, recently undergone a negative test, or recovered from the coronavirus. And EU member states may accept vaccination certificates issued by non-EU countries. Greece, for example, allows residents of the U.S., U.K., United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Serbia to visit without a quarantine if they can show they’ve gotten any of at least nine vaccines.
The International Air Transport Association said it was “encouraged” by von der Leyen’s comments, but added that the commission must work with airlines and ensure “clear, simple and secure digital processes for vaccination certificates.”
Sam Fazeli, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, cautions that whatever systems are implemented must be sufficiently secure to avoid fraud. And more important, increased travel will require relaxed rules from countries on both ends of the journey, as well as any intermediate stops.
“The U.K. and EU may be happy to open their borders to fully vaccinated people from the U.S.,” Fazeli told Bloomberg Television. “But then the U.S. has to be happy for its citizens to travel to Europe.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.