International airline companies want the Group of Seven wealthy countries to replace blanket pandemic travel curbs with more flexible, data-based methods when deciding whether to keep borders closed in response to the health crisis, Reuters reported Thursday.
The airline industry is stepping up a campaign to loosen border restrictions and allow more international travel despite increasing COVID-19 cases in many countries.
Willie Walsh, director of the International Air Transport Association, said during an online event airlines and passengers should be permitted to evaluate travel risks based on available health data.
According to IATA, governments should use screening measures, like testing passengers for the disease, rather than enforcing quarantines and other pandemic-related restrictions.
"With effective testing and screening methods in place, we can safely open our borders to regain the freedom that has been taken from us," The Associated Press quoted Walsh as saying.
Walsh, a former British Airways chief, was confident Europe could start to return to normal travel in the second half this year as immunization rates increased.
In May U.S. and British airlines asked U.S. President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lift restrictions on travel between the two nations. Neither government has acted.
Airlines reeling from 15 months of lockdowns are facing a slower than estimated recovery, as ongoing travel curbs overshadow the peak northern summer season, The Associated Press said.
Worries over the spread of more contagious COVID-19 variants also threatens to hamper reopening plans. Meanwhile, IATA projects that the airline industry will lose nearly $50 billion this year after losing $126 billion in 2020.
