The CEO of London’s Heathrow Airport is all but begging his government to change its approach to travel as it works to tackle the coronavirus.
The United Kingdom has 14-day quarantine requirements in place for travelers from countries such as the United States, Canada, Belgium, and Spain, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently said his government would be “ruthless” in imposing them.
John Holland-Kaye, the Heathrow CEO, marked the consequences in a recent statement, saying, “Tens of thousands of jobs are being lost because Britain remains cut off from critical markets.” He then argued for a new approach: “The government can save jobs by introducing testing to cut quarantine from higher risk countries while keeping the public safe from a second wave of COVID.”
When the European Union was mulling over its decision to continue preventing American and some other travelers from entering its borders (which it eventually did), I made a similar suggestion. It is entirely possible and much more reasonable to prioritize virus mitigation through testing rather than quarantining — and welcoming to business.
Testing at points of arrival, as Holland-Kaye suggests, is one option. What Austria has done to accommodate its European counterparts is another. Travelers from Switzerland, the EU, and the European Economic Area “will only be allowed to enter Austria upon presentation (to the immigration officer) of a medical certificate confirming a negative [coronavirus] test,” and the test “must not be older than 72 hours.”
The EU’s external border restrictions mirror those still in place in the U.S. This is cutting off critical economic activity and decimating multiple industries. As the governments have set it up, no travel will be permitted until the virus all but disappears, which hasn’t happened virtually anywhere, or until after vaccines become widely available, which is months if not years away.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the Trump administration and Congress on another round of coronavirus aid have stalled, and Oct. 1 looms as airlines plan to furlough thousands of workers when employment conditions tied to previous payroll aid expire. The president’s recent executive orders, which did not extend payroll support, have the industry extra worried that nothing more is coming — that this may now be set in stone.
Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Allegiant Air, and the regional airlines have all warned of furloughs. Southwest Airlines is one exception, in part because of cost savings resulting from employees taking early retirement or voluntary leaves of absence and also because of Southwest’s longstanding exceptional financial health. Other airlines have similarly seen employees taking early retirement and leaves of absence but not enough to offset losses sufficiently.
Airlines do have some reason for hope. There is broad congressional support, including from Republicans, for extending payroll support to airlines. If the administration works out its differences with Democratic leadership, workforces would be able to avoid the furloughs.
In any case, the aviation industry has already shrunk appreciably since March. Its current state is a direct result of the virus and the resulting crippled economy. And its collapse will itself have a crippling effect on the economy.
