Alliance chiefs urge G7 leaders to adopt global travel policy

The bosses of oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance have called for fully vaccinated passengers to be exempt from quarantine and for easily available, affordable Covid testing.

The trio, oneworld’s Rob Gurney, SkyTeam’s Kristin Colvile and Jeffrey Goh of Star Alliance said the summit, in Cornwall on 11-13 June, should agree a common set of travel and health standards to enable the safe reopening of borders.

They said: “International air travel and tourism are vital to the global economy. With considerable data now available to support government decisions in managing risks, decisive action from G7 members to open borders and support clear, consistent, and data-driven measures would remove uncertainty, particularly around testing and quarantine.”

They added that often fast-changing rules and procedures across countries and at different airport hubs “continue to create confusion and stress for customers and disrupt travel”.

As well as common rules for vaccinated passengers and affordable testing, the three chiefs said connecting passengers at airports “should not be subject to additional testing or quarantine restrictions at the point of transfer if remaining in the transit zone”.

They backed Iata’s call for governments to adopt digital travel health credentials including vaccine and test certificates, and for G7 members to agree common requirements and standards as set out by the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization.

"Vaccination will have a key role in the restart of international air travel and tourism. We strongly advocate for governments to accept accredited vaccination as a safe and appropriate reason to avoid quarantine,” they said.

“In the meantime, while we wait for the global population to be substantially vaccinated, it is important to have robust and consistent testing protocols, along with interoperable digital solutions developed to facilitate the customer journey.”