UK: Alliance of 400 top companies calls for pre-flight Covid tests to open up international travel

Boris Johnson has been urged by an alliance of more than 400 British and US businesses to introduce compulsory Covid testing of travellers 48 hours before they fly so they can by-pass quarantine and restore international aviation. British American Business (BAB) said the move could shorten quarantine for arrivals in the UK by ten days by having a second test after three or four days, thus opening up “air bridges” between the US and UK and other international routes. Duncan Edwards, BAB CE, said that multinational corporations which split their business between the US and UK were desperate to cross the Atlantic to seal deals and re-invigorate trading links after lockdown. And he warned other small and medium-sized enterprises risked having to shut down their overseas operations if they continued to be barred from travelling and so unable to manage and oversee them. Edwards said: “For people who want to travel for business, the cost of paying for a pre-departure test is irrelevant compared to 14 days isolation or the risk of not going to see their overseas operations. That’s why we are arguing for a mandatory test no longer than two days before departure and then a test on arrival, maybe three or four days later depending on what the science recommends.” BAB represents all the major banks, airlines, finance houses, manufacturers which have UK and US operations.<br/>