The US will soon allow entry to most foreign air travelers as long as they\u2019re fully vaccinated against Covid-19 \u2014 while adding a testing requirement for unvaccinated Americans and barring entry for foreigners who haven\u2019t gotten shots.<\/p>\n
The measures, announced Monday by the White House, are the most sweeping change to US travel policies in months, and widen the gap in rules between vaccinated people \u2014 who will see measures relaxed \u2014 and the unvaccinated. The new rules will replace existing bans on foreigners\u2019 travel to the US from certain regions, including Europe.<\/p>\n
While the move will open the US to millions of vaccinated people, the White House cast the measure as a crackdown, pointing to stricter testing rules and a new contact tracing regime. The new policy will take effect in \u201cearly November,\u201d according to the White House, though the precise date isn\u2019t yet clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know vaccines are effective, including against the delta variant, and vaccines are the best line of defense against Covid, so this vaccination requirement deploys the best tool we have in our arsenal to keep people safe and prevent the spread of the virus,\u201d White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n
The new rules will replace the current system, which includes outright bans on entry for foreigners who\u2019ve been in certain regions, such as the UK and European Union, within the previous two weeks, regardless of vaccination status.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will protect Americans here at home and enhance the safety of international travel,\u201d Zients said.<\/p>\n
News of the policy change caused US airline shares to pare premarket losses. The Standard & Poor\u2019s index of the country\u2019s five biggest airlines rose less than 1% at 11:14 a.m. in New York, overcoming a global stock rout on anxiety over US monetary policy and China\u2019s real estate market. American Airlines Group Inc climbed about 2%.<\/p>\n
IAG SA, parent of trans-Atlantic specialist British Airways, gained about 11%, the most in 10 months, while Air France-KLM rose as much as 7% and Deutsche Lufthansa AG advanced 8.9%.<\/p>\n
Before the coronavirus crisis hit, the North Atlantic corridor connecting the US and Europe was the single most profitable part of the global aviation market, filled with premium travelers paying top dollar for first- and business-class seats.<\/p>\n
The European Union\u2019s top industry official welcomed the policy change. \u201cA logical decision given the success of our EU vaccination campaign,\u201d said Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton in a tweet. He said he\u2019d be meeting with Zients Monday \u201cto continue fighting the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
British Airways chief executive officer Sean Doyle called the US move an \u201chistoric moment\u201d and said customers could now book with confidence, while his Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd counterpart Shai Weiss said the industry had cleared a \u201cmajor milestone to the reopening of travel at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome the Biden administration\u2019s science-based approach to begin lifting the restrictions on travel to the US that were put into place at the start of the pandemic,\u201d American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to welcoming more customers back to easy, seamless international trips for business, for leisure, and to reconnect with family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s announcement comes ahead of a planned virtual vaccine summit he\u2019ll host this Wednesday, where he will push for more global donations in a bid to head off criticism of US hoarding, and a decision to proceed with booster shots despite the World Health Organisation urging to hold off for now.<\/p>\n
Under the new system, vaccinated travelers will still need a pre-flight Covid-19 test, within three days of departure, and will need to provide a phone number and email to begin to create a contact-tracing system that does not exist now. The vaccine requirement applies to adults, a person familiar with the plan said.<\/p>\n
Unvaccinated American travelers will need to test within one day of departure, and will be required to test again once they arrive, Zients said.<\/p>\n
Key details of the new system remain unclear, including what vaccines the US will recognize and whether it will insist on two doses in all cases, including for people who\u2019ve previously been infected with the virus. It\u2019s not clear what exemptions will be allowed.<\/p>\n
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will determine the definition of fully vaccinated for international travelers, Zients said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no change to the policy along land borders, Zients said. That suggests that, as of November, vaccinated Canadians and Mexicans will be free to fly to the US, but that a ban on crossing the border by land for leisure trips will remain in place.<\/p>\n
Throughout the pandemic, carriers on both sides of the Atlantic have lobbied forcefully for a relaxation of travel curbs that have been in place since March 2020. While Britain and the EU lifted restrictions on visiting Americans this summer, the US held off from any reciprocal loosening amid a rise in Covid-19 cases. US infections have been leveling off, though cases, hospitalizations and deaths remain high.<\/p>\n
The policy change in Washington is coming after Britain indicated it would ease testing requirements for vaccinated arrivals, and simplify its system for regulating travel from different countries.<\/p>\n
European countries in particular have complained that the US maintained travel restrictions on their vaccinated citizens even after they began allowing entry to vaccinated Americans.<\/p>\n