09 April 2021 - The Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) welcomes the report from the Global Travel Taskforce that sets out the Government’s framework towards restarting international travel.

Dale Keller, chief executive of BAR UK said “The Government’s framework to re-open international travel provides the initial go-ahead needed by airlines to prepare for a return of international flying. Clearly we would like the Government to sharpen their pencils on the plan in advance of implementation but the framework creates the building blocks to open up further through the built-in review periods. The real work starts now on ensuring the plans can be implemented effectively and on-time, thereby ensuring the travelling public have full confidence in the future travel experience, know when and where they can travel to, and understand what they are required to do. We support the ‘traffic light’ classification of countries based on risk assessments and we will continue to propose further initiatives and enhancements, such as acceptance of rapid lateral flow tests, to further reduce cost and complexity for travellers from lower risk countries. We also support the creation of a joint industry and government border working group to focus on enabling passenger volumes to return without excessive queues whilst maintaining a safe and secure UK border. The airline industry continues to offer its expertise and support to the Government throughout the vitally important task to reconnect the UK to its international markets.”