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By Sarah Young
LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - British Airways's new boss said
vaccinated people should be allowed to travel without
restriction and non-vaccinated people with a negative COVID-19
test, as he set out his ideas for a travel restart a month
before the UK government finalises its plans.
Holidays will not be allowed until May 17 at the earliest,
the government has said, but before that, on April 12, Britain
will announce how and when non-essential travel into and out of
the country can resume.
Sean Doyle, appointed BA's chief executive last October,
called on Britain to work with other governments to allow
vaccines and health apps to open up travel, after a year when
minimal flying has left many airlines on life support.
"I think people who've been vaccinated should be able to
travel without restriction. Those who have not been vaccinated
should be able to travel with a negative test result," he said.
Doyle said the roll-out of vaccines made him optimistic BA
would be back flying this summer, but added the recovery depends
on what is said on April 12.
He wants government to give its backing to health apps that
can be used to verify a person's negative COVID-19 test results
and vaccination status.
Apps will be key to facilitating travel at scale, the
industry has said. Airline staff checking paperwork takes 20
minutes per passenger and is not practical if large numbers of
passengers return.
Britain has rapidly rolled out vaccinations and 44% of the
adult population, mostly people over 60, have now had their
first shot.
The government has said any return to travel must be fair
and not unduly disadvantage those who have not been vaccinated.
Doyle expects Britain to bring in a tiered framework with
destinations put into categories depending on risk, and that
will determine BA's summer schedule.
Beyond saying there was "huge pent up demand", Doyle
declined to forecast how strong the season could be.
Budget rival Ryanair, Europe's biggest airline, has
said it hopes to fly up to 70% of 2019 passenger numbers this
summer.
BA has struck a deal with a testing kit provider giving its
passengers 33 pound ($46) tests to take abroad.
Travel commentators expect most European airlines to focus
on short-haul leisure routes this summer, and Doyle noted
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 over the summer
that we haven't flown to before, and that could be across both
long haul and short haul," Doyle said.
($1 = 0.7196 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young. Editing by Mark Potter)
