Scrap tests required to enter US: Airline and Travel Associations

Airlines for America, which represents the US’s biggest carriers, and 28 other airline, travel and business groups sent out a message to the White House Coronavirus policy adviser asking the Biden administration to end the testing requirement

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

AP reported that airline and tourism groups want the US government to eliminate the requirement that international travellers provide a negative test for Covid-19 before boarding an US-bound plane. They believe that the testing rule has been discouraging people from booking international trips. They mention the example of United Kingdom, which eliminated a similar rule last month.

Airlines for America, which represents the US’s biggest carriers, and 28 other airline, travel and business groups sent out a message to the White House Coronavirus policy adviser asking the Biden administration to end the testing requirement. The groups said that the testing requirement was no longer needed because of the high number of Covid-19 cases already in every state, higher vaccinations rates and new treatments for the virus. “Removing the requirement will greatly support the recovery of travel and aviation in the United States and globally without increasing the spread of Covid-19 and its variants,” they wrote. The White House, however, has not responded immediately to a request for comment.

• Airlines for America said its member airlines carried 38 per cent fewer international passengers in late January than in the same period of 2019. Travel between the US and China — which has its own tight restrictions on international travel — remains just 2 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

• Separately, leaders of the US Travel Association said that they are talking to members of Congress about tax changes they say would boost business travel.

At the same time, one of the major tourism-industry groups said it was seeking tax breaks for conventions and trade shows, which it believes will help revive business travel. Domestic leisure travel in the US has recovered to prepandemic levels, but business and international travel have not fully rebounded. From early 2020 through last December, spending in the US on travel has dropped by a cumulative USD 730 billion, and many jobs in the sector have not come back, according to the US Travel Association.

Airlines for America said its member airlines carried 38 per cent fewer international passengers in late January than in the same period of 2019. Travel between the US and China — which has its own tight restrictions on international travel — remains just 2 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Separately, leaders of the US Travel Association said that they are talking to members of Congress about tax changes they say would boost business travel.

************************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com