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LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Britain's transport minister Grant
Shapps said on Friday there was still no exact date for when the
United States would open for travellers from the United Kingdom,
beyond guidance of early November.
The lack of clarity on the U.S. opening is one of the final
barriers remaining for UK travel after Shapps promised an
announcement in the coming days on scrapping the requirement for
expensive PCR tests for fully-vaccinated arrivals into England.
Asked on Sky News if he had a specific date for when the
U.S. would allow Britons in, Shapps said: "I don't."
Transatlantic bookings with airlines like British Airways
and Virgin Atlantic surged following the U.S.
announcement in September but with no further clarity, concerns
are growing that the date could be pushed back.
Shapps said he was in touch with his U.S. counterpart and
the U.S. ambassador over the matter and that the U.S. still
wanted to proceed but it was a matter of working out the
technicalities of how to do it.
"They're still saying to me, early November," he later told
Times Radio.
Shapps, who on Thursday scrapped tough COVID-19 hotel
quarantine requirements for dozens of countries, said there
would be an announcement shortly on allowing cheaper lateral
flow tests for arrivals into the country and the new rule would
be in place before Oct. 22.
"We anticipate having it ready for the half term," he said,
referring to the upcoming school break.
Airlines and travel companies have been calling for
travellers to be allowed to do the cheaper COVID-19 test for
months, saying that the more expensive test adds hundreds of
pounds to family holidays and has dampened demand.
Referring to the recent rule changes, British Airways chief
executive Sean Doyle said: "It finally feels like we are seeing
light at the end of a very long tunnel."
But he said more needed to be done. As well as a firm date
for the U.S. reopening, he asked for testing to be entirely
scrapped for fully vaccinated travellers.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton and James
Davey)
