US-UK travel corridor unlikely ‘before end of summer’

The long-awaited travel corridor between the US and UK is unlikely to open before the end of the summer, according to reports. In June, coinciding with the G7 in Cornwall, a new transatlantic travel taskforce was set up to explore ways to reopen UK-US travel. Travel between the two nations has been frozen since March 2020, thanks to a series of presidential proclamations, while the US is on the UK’s amber list of countries, requiring a 10-day quarantine when returning to the UK and two post-arrival PCR tests. Now talks have stalled, with officials involved saying it was unlikely a conclusion would be reached by the end of next month, reports the Financial Times. Concern over the rise of Delta cases in the UK and uncertainty over the AstraZeneca vaccine are thought to be behind the delay. Talks are expected to continue into August and even September, the newspaper said. The travel industry has been heaping pressure on both governments to reopen travel between the two nations, and gave news of the new transatlantic taskforce a lukewarm welcome earlier this month. <br/>