(Bloomberg) —
The U.K. scrapped a pre-departure Covid-19 test requirement for vaccinated travelers entering the country, after airlines hard-hit by the omicron variant lobbied for the rules to be eased.
A test will still be required within two days of entering the country, but the requirement for a costly PCR test will be eliminated, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday following a a regular three-week review of travel rules. Vaccinated arrivals must produce a negative result from a less expensive lateral-flow result instead. The changes take effect on Friday.
Loosening the requirements will bring some relief to airlines after tougher border rules tied to the spread of omicron stifled air travel over the year-end holiday. While governments have introduced a slew of restrictions in response to the new variant, evidence is growing that it produces milder symptoms than earlier Covid waves.
The pre-departure test “discourages many from traveling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense,” Johnson said.
Shares of airlines dependent on the U.K. market, inclucing Ryanair Holdings Plc, EasyJet Plc and British Airways owner IAG SA, reversed earlier losses after local news outlets reported on the plans.
Holiday Slump
The U.K., one of the first countries to identify omicron’s presence, has been subject to targeted restrictions from nations including Germany and France. Hong Hong on Wednesday said it would ban flights for two weeks from a number of places including Britain and the U.S.
Hong Kong Scraps Flights, Shuts Bars, Gyms on Omicron Threat
Along with other governments, Britain toughened its own entry requirements starting in November, in a setback to what had been shaping up as a broad recovery for air travel.
Airlines, which have railed against border restrictions throughout the two-year coronavirus crisis, stepped up a campaign this week to lift the testing mandate in full, arguing that the significant cost is crushing demand.
Manchester Airports Group and industry lobby Airlines UK published research maintaining that the removal of testing requirements on international travel won’t affect Covid’s spread, and that domestic restrictions were the only way to stem the virus within Britain.
“Our temporary testing requirements were introduced to prevent additional omicron cases from entering the U.K., stopping people from passing it on to others if they are infected,” a spokesman for the Department for Transport said in an email in response to the industry report.
Step Back
The clampdowns on travel have stalled progress toward the use of so-called vaccine passports that had taken hold over summer. The airline industry has faced ever changing rules through the course of the pandemic.
In May, the U.K. introduced a so-called traffic light system setting entry requirements by country, with arrivals from places classified as red forced to pay for an expensive hotel quarantine.
The system was revised in late summer to rely more on vaccination status. Until the onset of omicron, travelers from most places who could show they had a full dose of approved vaccines were allowed to enter without pre-testing.
The country will now return to the system that was in place in October, Johnson said.
(Updates with official decision throughout)
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