The US government will not require digital health documents for travel, a spokesperson for the administration of President Joe Biden says. Answering a question at the White House daily media briefing, Jen Psaki on 6 April ruled out any kind of mandatory “credential” that Americans might be required to have in order to travel. “The government is not now nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,” Psaki says. “There will be no federal vaccinations database, no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.” The idea of a so-called health or vaccine passport – to prove vaccination status, and thus perhaps speed widespread re-opening of travel – was recently floated by some actors in the aviation and travel industry, including Boeing, IATA and Airlines for America (A4A). While there is broad support for the idea in the industry, important privacy questions remain. Psaki says the government respects those concerns. “Our interest is very simple – Americans’ privacy and rights should be protected and so that these systems are not used against people unfairly,” she adds.<br/>
general
UK PM Boris Johnson sought to reassure the public that summer holidays are still a possibility, a day after warning that the government may not meet a May 17 goal to reopen its borders. While many popular holiday destinations are struggling with surges in Covid-19 cases, this doesn’t mean the government has given up on next month’s target, Johnson said Tuesday. He had cautioned earlier that the government will need to track health data and make an assessment on non-essential travel closer to the date. “We will be saying as much as we can as soon as we can about international travel,” Johnson said. “I know how impatient people are to book their holidays if they possibly can, but we just have to be prudent at this stage.” Airline and airport executives had slammed Johnson for telling Britons not to plan international trips, accusing him of a lack of clarity and of ushering in more financial harm to the industry. Executives also complained that a requirement for arriving passengers to take two coronavirus tests, even from green-lit countries, would drive up the cost of a vacation. EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren called for cheaper lateral flow tests, which are less accurate but give quicker results, to be used instead of the gold-standard PCR test to avoid pricing families out of holidays.<br/>
The CEs of British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow airport have called for a travel corridor with the US to be opened as soon as next month, in a push to restart the industry’s most lucrative routes following more than a year of disruption. In a rare joint plea to UK prime minister Boris Johnson, the bosses of the three companies said rapid vaccination programmes meant restarting transatlantic flying should be a priority when borders open. “There is a great opportunity here to focus on the corridor between the US and the UK . . . the US has a hugely successful vaccination programme,” said Shai Weiss, CE of Virgin Atlantic. The PM this week outlined cautious plans to reopen international travel. This will include the introduction of a traffic light system to grade destinations on vaccination progress, Covid-19 infection rates and the prevalence of virus variants. With their most important routes on the line, the travel industry is pushing for the US to be put on the “green list” immediately, which would mean returning passengers would not have to quarantine, although they would still need to take Covid-19 tests before departure and after arrival. Aviation bosses have also written to the prime minister to warn expensive testing requirements could kill off demand for travel before the summer even begins. EasyJet CE Johan Lundgren said cheaper lateral flow tests should be used instead of expensive PCR tests. In response, Johnson said: “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.”<br/>