The U.S. is spearheading a nascent revival in overseas air travel as people jump at the chance to fly to destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean without quarantines or other Covid-related restrictions.
New York to Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros, the two biggest cities in the Dominican Republic, are among the world’s busiest overseas routes this year, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. Neither made the top 10 before the pandemic. Orlando to San Juan in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico sits at second-busiest overall, behind Moscow to Simferopol, in the disputed Crimea region.
Seven of the 10 most-active international city pairs feature U.S. links, suggesting one of the world’s most-advanced inoculation programs is uncorking demand that’s been building for a year. The U.S. domestic market, unfettered by border restrictions, should return to almost normal levels by July, travel data provider OAG says.
While President Joe Biden hasn’t yet acted to lift entry restrictions on visitors, Americans are going to places they can easily get to—like Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they don’t necessarily need a passport, though a negative Covid-19 test is required. The Dominican Republic opened to tourists in July and offers U.S. travelers in-hotel tests before they return home. It has dropped a requirement for a negative test on arrival.
Mexico is open to quarantine-free air travel from the U.S. and doesn’t require a negative test, though visitors need one to return home after trips to popular holiday spots such as Cancun. While the test requirement threatened to hurt bookings, discount airline Volaris responded by subsidizing the extra cost. The move helped sustain a growth surge that has led the carrier to become Mexico's biggest during the crisis, with capacity levels that exceeded pre-pandemic levels as early as December.
What’s Happening In Air Travel This Week
Globally, air travel is recovering in fits and starts as vaccine drives progress at a disjointed pace and governments tighten border rules to address flare-ups. Overall capacity inched ahead this week but still hovers at around 57% of 2019 levels, based on Bloomberg’s weekly flight tracker, which uses OAG data to monitor the pulse of the global air-travel comeback.
While the U.S. and Western Europe make plans for summer reopenings, countries are cutting ties with India: Australia barred even its own citizens from returning home from the stricken nation. Quarantine-free travel bubbles are seen as a way to pry open links, yet they have proved fragile too. Hong Kong and Singapore now have a May 26 start date after earlier delays, though a growing virus cluster in Singapore poses a fresh threat.