The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector: follow-up

The aviation industry thrives on certainty. In order to return passenger aircraft to the skies and to connect the UK to the world, a road map to restart international travel is urgently needed. The Department has not yet specified the standards that destination countries must meet on vaccine and testing capabilities in order to reopen for travel with the UK. In addition, it has not clarified whether such criteria will be flexible if the risk of transmission of new variants between vaccinated individuals is found to be minimal.

The Government must commit to publishing the Global Travel Taskforce report on 12 April to give consumers and industry the certainty that they need to plan for a summer 2021 restart for international travel. The publication of the road map should be accompanied by a statement to the House of Commons setting out next steps. The Global Travel Taskforce report must clarify: • The criteria that destination countries must meet on vaccine and testing capabilities in order to reopen for travel with the UK, as well as the requirements that passengers will need to fulfil in order to travel abroad, including any relating to digital health certification; • when and how the current quarantine schemes will be phased out; and • how the Government plans to support industry should variants or high levels of Covid-19 transmission affect the reopening schedule.

It is disappointing that the timetable on the recovery plan for the aviation sector has slipped. The focus on the Global Travel Taskforce report for travel in summer 2021 should be the first priority. That said, the recovery plan should not slip further, and we will seek an update from the Government on progress in early autumn. (Paragraph 10) The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation sector: Interim report 5