Delta in talks to add more quarantine-free flights

Delta is in early talks with governments to add more quarantine-free flights overseas, a company executive said on Tuesday, as the aviation industry turns to such testing-backed programs to revive demand battered by COVID-19. The US carrier is rolling out two quarantine-free flights this week to Europe, where passengers are required to be tested for the novel coronavirus. The flights, which are restricted to essential travel to meet government requirements, begin later on Tuesday with a departure from Atlanta to Amsterdam. “This is the first step,” said Perry Cantarutti, Delta’s senior VP, alliances and international. “Our focus is not just across the Atlantic. I think we’d like to see a similar program across the Pacific... It’s a combination of certainly identifying the need and then finding an opportunity where you’ve got government authorities that are willing to have that conversation,” he added, without specifying the governments involved in the talks. Even as COVID-19 vaccinations kick off this week in the United States and Canada, airlines see testing as the fastest way to resume international travel without quarantines since inoculation campaigns take time.<br/>