Canadian airlines among carriers asking appeal court to toss passenger rights rules)

Airlines urge the G7 nations to help international travel

The ******* industry is ratcheting up its campaign to ease border restrictions and allow more international travel — even by people who aren’t vaccinated against *********** — despite high infection rates in many countries.

The industry’s trade group, the International Air Transport Association, said Wednesday that governments should use screening measures, such as testing passengers for the *****, rather than imposing quarantines and other restrictions.

The group cited studies that indicate vaccinated travelers pose little risk of spreading ********. To bolster its argument to let unvaccinated people travel too, the ******* group said only 2.2% of travelers to the United Kingdom between late February and early May tested positive for ******** after arrival.

 

 

“There is no risk-free approach,” the group’s top official, Willie Walsh, the former CEO of British Airways and Aer Lingus, told reporters. Governments need to accept some risk “and get on with our lives,” he said.

The comments underscore the concern among ******* officials that a recovery in travel might not be fast enough to make the peak summer vacation season a success. They hope that officials from the wealthy G7 countries agree to ease travel restrictions during or before a summit meeting of leaders in England next week.

Last month, U.S. and U.K. airlines asked President ********* and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lift restrictions on travel between the two countries before the summit, but neither government has acted.

The ******* trade group projects that the industry will lose $48 billion this year after losing $126 billion in 2020. The group’s chief economist said last week that air traffic this year will be 52% of 2019 traffic and won’t recover to pre-******** levels until 2023.






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