The boss of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has called on the industry as well as governments on both sides of the Atlantic to push for the reopening of transatlantic travel.
In a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Business Travel Suzanne Neufang, CEO of the GBTA, which is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, highlighted the importance of the opening of a UK-US corridor.
"Globally, the UK has seen the sharpest contraction of business travel spend. The opening of the UK:US transatlantic routes is critical,” she said.
“The US is the UK's largest single trading partner, accounting for 15.7% of UK exports in 2019. Similarly, the UK is one of the US's most important trading partners. We must work together with the Atlantic Charter's taskforce to get these routes open quickly and safely."
Also at the meeting was Clive Wratten, CEO of the UK’s Business Travel Association (BTA), who had a pretty downbeat assessment of the state of the industry.
"It is not an exaggeration to say that as a sector, we are still in lockdown,” he said. “We look enviously at the hospitality sector operating at 50% whilst understanding their frustrations. We are not even operating at 10% of pre-pandemic levels with no end to this crisis in sight," he said.
Currently travel from the UK to the US is banned apart from for US citizens or residents, while in the UK, the US is on England’s amber list meaning visitors must self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival.
The announcement of a US-UK travel taskforce ahead of the recent G7 meeting in Cornwall was welcomed in the industry, but some are worried that it may be some time before a full reopening takes place.