LONDON (Reuters) – British Airways’ new boss said vaccinated people are allowed unlimited travel and unvaccinated people with a negative COVID-19 test, while outlining his ideas for a travel reboot a month before the British government plans.
Holidays will be allowed on May 17 at the earliest, the government has said, but before that, on April 12, Britain will announce how and when non-essential travel to and from the country can resume.
Sean Doyle, appointed Chief Executive of BA last October, called on Britain to work with other governments to provide vaccines and health apps with access to travel, after a year of livelihoods from minimal flying.
“I think that people who have been vaccinated should be able to travel without restrictions. Those who have not been vaccinated should be able to travel with a negative test result, ”he said.
Doyle said the introduction of vaccines made him optimistic that BA would fly again this summer, but added that the recovery depends on what is said on April 12.
He wants the government to support health apps that can be used to verify a person’s negative COVID-19 test results and vaccination status.
Apps will be key to enabling large-scale travel, the industry said. The airline staff checking the paperwork takes 20 minutes per passenger and is not practical when large numbers of passengers return.
Britain has rapidly introduced vaccinations and 44% of the adult population, mostly over 60s, has now had their first injection.
The government has said that any return to travel must be fair and not unduly harm those who have not been vaccinated.
Doyle expects Britain to introduce a layered framework of destinations categorized according to risk, and that will determine BA’s summer schedule.
In addition to saying there was “huge pent-up demand,” Doyle declined to predict how strong the season could be.
Budget rival Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, hopes to fly up to 70% of passengers in 2019 this summer.
BA has signed a deal with a test kit provider that will give its passengers £ 33 ($ 46) of tests to go abroad.
Travel commentators expect most European airlines to focus on short haul leisure routes this summer, and Doyle noted that 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 in the summer that we haven’t flown to before, and that could be long or short distances,” said Doyle.
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Reporting by Sarah Young. Editing by Mark Potter