The long-awaited travel corridor between the US and UK is unlikely to open before the end of the summer, according to reports.
In June, coinciding with the G7 in Cornwall, a new transatlantic travel taskforce was set up to explore ways to reopen UK-US travel.
Travel between the two nations has been frozen since March 2020, thanks to a series of presidential proclamations, while the US is on the UK’s amber list of countries, requiring a 10-day quarantine when returning to the UK and two post-arrival PCR tests.
Now talks have stalled, with officials involved saying it was unlikely a conclusion would be reached by the end of next month, reports the Financial Times.
Concern over the rise of Delta cases in the UK and uncertainty over the AstraZeneca vaccine are thought to be behind the delay.
Recommended
Talks are expected to continue into August and even September, the newspaper said.
The travel industry has been heaping pressure on both governments to reopen travel between the two nations, and gave news of the new transatlantic taskforce a lukewarm welcome earlier this month.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, representing leading British carriers, said earlier this month: “It’s positive news but time is really ticking and every day that we don’t have an air bridge with the US costs us £32m in lost economic activity.
“It’s our most important trading and tourism link by far and we would urge a redoubling of efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to get an agreement in place.”
Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, Shai Weiss, said: “The creation of the Atlantic Taskforce is positive recognition of the importance of the UK-US travel corridor and a first step towards reopening the skies. But in the absence of a definitive time frame, again falls short of providing airlines, businesses and consumers with much needed certainty.”
The delay comes amid a handful of European nations tightening entry restrictions for British travellers, amid ongoing concerns over the Delta variant.
Portugal, previously the star of the “green list”, now mandates that all unvaccinated Britons must quarantine for two weeks.
Likewise Malta, a recent addition to the green list, says that it will only accept fully jabbed Britons, which covers everybody aged 12 and above.
Spain today confirmed that tighter entry restrictions for Britons will come into force from Friday, following six weeks of no restrictions at all.
From midnight on 2 July, British travellers must either show proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR Covid test taken within 48 hours of arrival.
