Holidays will not be allowed until May 17 at the earliest, the
government has said, but before that, on April 12, Britain will
announce how and when non-essential travel into and out of the
country can resume.
Sean Doyle, appointed BA's chief executive last October, called on
Britain to work with other governments to allow vaccines and health
apps to open up travel, after a year when minimal flying has left
many airlines on life support.
"I think people who've been vaccinated should be able to travel
without restriction. Those who have not been vaccinated should be
able to travel with a negative test result," he said.
Doyle said the roll-out of vaccines made him optimistic BA would be
back flying this summer, but added the recovery depends on what is
said on April 12.
He wants government to give its backing to health apps that can be
used to verify a person's negative COVID-19 test results and
vaccination status.
Apps will be key to facilitating travel at scale, the industry has
said. Airline staff checking paperwork takes 20 minutes per
passenger and is not practical if large numbers of passengers
return.
Britain has rapidly rolled out vaccinations and 44% of the adult
population, mostly people over 60, have now had their first shot.
The government has said any return to travel must be fair and not
unduly disadvantage those who have not been vaccinated.
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Doyle expects Britain to bring
in a tiered framework with destinations put into
categories depending on risk, and that will
determine BA's summer schedule.
Beyond saying there was "huge pent up demand",
Doyle declined to forecast how strong the season
could be. Budget rival Ryanair,
Europe's biggest airline, has said it hopes to fly up to 70% of 2019
passenger numbers this summer.
BA has struck a deal with a testing kit provider giving its
passengers 33 pound ($46) tests to take abroad.
Travel commentators expect most European airlines to focus on
short-haul leisure routes this summer, and Doyle noted France,
Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain had all sounded positive about
welcoming British holidaymakers.
But he said BA was also looking further afield.
"We're already looking at new destinations over the summer that we
haven't flown to before, and that could be across both long haul and
short haul," Doyle said.
($1 = 0.7196 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young. Editing by Mark Potter)
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