There looks to be light at the end of the tunnel for European aviation as the COVID-19 recovery begins. In the United Kingdom for example, travellers who are either fully vaccinated with a National Health Service-administered (NHS) vaccine in the UK (plus 14 days) or on one of the country's formally approved vaccine clinical trials could return from amber list locations from July 19 without the need for quarantine. While pre-departure and day two PCR tests remain (the latter after arrival), in the run-up to July 19 airlines experienced a skyrocket in flight bookings; easyJet reported a 400% surge to amber destinations while British Airways had a 96% increase of views on its website compared to the previous week. At London/Heathrow all four terminals were once again active in some capacity from July 15, while two-runway (27L/09R and 27R/09L) operations also restarted that month. On the continent there is high optimism of the return of free movement across the bloc after the European Union introduced the EU Digital COVID Certificate, providing digital proof of a vaccination, negative test or COVID-19 recovery, from July 1. The EU says it will "help to ensure that restrictions currently in place can be lifted in a co-ordinated manner".
展开▼
