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* BA, Virgin Atlantic optimistic on May 17 restart
* PM says wants to make testing for travel easy, cheap
* EasyJet criticises expensive tests for low risk countries
(Adds PM comments)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Britain hasn't given up on
resuming international travel on May 17, but needs to be
cautious given rising COVID-19 infections in Europe, its prime
minister said on Tuesday, amid pressure from hard-hit airlines
to give the green light for foreign holidays.
British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic both urged the
government to help secure a swift recovery for the industry.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson now has to weigh up the
uncertainty over whether vaccination campaigns can improve the
situation in Europe this summer, against the weeks of notice the
travel industry needs to restart.
"We have to be realistic ... we can't do it immediately," he
told reporters. "But that doesn't mean that we've given up on
May 17," he said, of the country's original reopening plan.
"We want to make things as easy as we possibly can," he
added, when asked if fast and cheap lateral flow COVID-19 tests
could replace the gold-standard PCR tests for travellers.
Airlines are pinning their hopes on vaccinations and the
government's proposed "traffic light system" - tailoring rules
to the risks in each country - to help revive travel.
"We see nothing in the data that suggests that we shouldn't
be opening up travel on the 17th of May," BA CEO Sean Doyle told
a media briefing.
The UK government has said it will provide more details on
restarting foreign travel this week after holidays were banned
in the latest COVID-19 lockdown.
Speaking alongside Doyle, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss
said the rapid roll-out of vaccinations in the United States
meant it should be on Britain's "green" list of countries
qualifying for lighter travel rules.
Those heading to green list countries will need to take two
COVID-19 tests, but will avoid quarantine. Speaking on BBC
radio, EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren said costly COVID-19
tests should not be needed for low-risk countries.
Johnson responded: "The boss of easyJet is right to focus on
this issue, we're going to see what we can do to make things as
flexible and as affordable as possible."
Lundgren forecast that by July and August, Britons would be
allowed to travel without restrictions to popular resorts in
Spain and Greece.
Airlines are desperate for the income brought in by new
bookings, but the government advice remains for people to hold
off on organising foreign holidays for now.
BA and Virgin declined to say how they would fine-tune their
route maps to reflect likely green-list countries, which could
include Israel, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates. Doyle
said BA would wait for the government recommendations this week.
The bosses said they would need to know which countries were
likely to be on which list and have enough detail to plan for
May 17 and beyond, as bringing staff back from furlough, getting
planes ready and opening terminals would take weeks.
The executives, and Heathrow airport CEO John Holland-Kaye
who also spoke at the briefing, urged the government to approve
the use of digital travel passes, which would include test and
vaccine certificates. The industry has said checks on paper
certificates would cause delays.
"We need to standardise and simplify and automate as much as
possible," said Holland-Kaye.
