Alliance of 400 top companies calls for pre-flight Covid tests to open up international travel
Boris Johnson has been urged by an alliance of more than 400 British and US businesses to introduce compulsory Covid testing of travellers 48 hours before they fly so they can by-pass quarantine and restore international aviation.
British American Business (BAB) said the move could shorten quarantine for arrivals in the UK by ten days by having a second test after three or four days, thus opening up “air bridges” between the US and UK and other international routes.
Duncan Edwards, BAB chief executive, told The Daily Telegraph that multinational corporations which split their business between the US and UK were desperate to cross the Atlantic to seal deals and re-invigorate trading links after lockdown.
And he warned other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) risked having to shut down their overseas operations if they continued to be barred from travelling and so unable to manage and oversee them.
Mr Edwards said: “For people who want to travel for business, the cost of paying for a pre-departure test is irrelevant compared to 14 days isolation or the risk of not going to see their overseas operations.
“That’s why we are arguing for a mandatory test no longer than two days before departure and then a test on arrival, maybe three or four days later depending on what the science recommends.”
BAB represents all the major banks, airlines, finance houses, manufacturers which have UK and US operations.
The move has been backed by Paul Charles, chief executive of the travel consultancy The PC Agency, who was also a leading figure in the Quash Quarantine campaign mounted by more than 100 travel and tourism businesses.
He said the most attractive option for the travel sector was a mandatory test for anyone entering the UK to prove they had a negative result in the preceding 48 hours, then quarantine for four days and take a second test on day five.
“This would spread the pressure on testing into other countries; meet the government’s key aim of double-testing and also prevent the vast majority of cases being transmitted. In minimal time,” he said.
Rome airport announced over the weekend that it planned to test every traveller before departure for Covid, and require anyone with a positive result to quarantine until they were clear.
Morocco also announced that from October holidaymakers arriving at Marrakech and other airports will not be required to quarantine if they have a negative Covid test and a hotel booking.
