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Hopes are fading that the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to open an air corridor before the end of the summer, according to the latest sign that increased coronavirus cases in Britain, millions of travel plans are at stake.
Officials involved in talks on a U.S.-UK travel corridor, which began last week, said they thought it was increasingly unlikely they would reach a conclusion by the end of next month, such as some had originally waited.
Instead, they said a combination of rising Delta variant cases in the UK, the complexity of the US political system and uncertainty about the status of the AstraZeneca vaccine should have ‘extend the talks until August and even September.
The planned draft in agreeing an air corridor between the United States and the United Kingdom is the latest in a series of difficulties for Britons planning to travel abroad this summer.
On Monday, Spain, Portugal, Malta and Hong Kong announced it stricter restrictions about travelers entering from the UK.
London officials had wished to have a draft agreement to reopen travel between the United States and the United Kingdom at the time of the July 4 Independence Day celebrations.
A British official reported talks on a corridor with the United States: “This will not happen soon. We thought July was the first we could get to achieve something, but now it looks more like September.”
Another person familiar with the discussions said the UK was pushing for a deal much more than the US.
“The Biden administration is in no hurry. . . and the chances of anything happening before August now seem to be nil, ”the person added.
Non-Americans have been banned from traveling from the UK to the US since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last March, unless they are green card holders, the immediate family of a US citizen or who may apply for a special exemption.
The ban was established by then-President of the United States Donald Trump, and was re-imposed by his successor Joe Biden. The UK allows anyone from the United States to enter, although it must be quarantined at least five days later.
British officials have struggled to convince their US counterparts to set aside restrictions.
They had hoped they could move forward after Biden this month agreed to settle a working group of American and British officials to discuss the best way to restart travel.
The UK reported 22,868 new cases of coronavirus on Monday in the last 24-hour period, a level last recorded in January. But with more than 60% of the adult population fully vaccinated, deaths have remained low.
Ending a U.S.-UK travel corridor is further complicated by the number of parts of the U.S. government that can comment on coronavirus-related travel rules, including the Department of Transportation, Control Centers and Disease Prevention, the state department and the White House.
The state of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in the US further complicates matters. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company has not yet applied for authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and in doing so is likely to apply for a full legal license instead of a temporary emergency clearance, a process that can take several months. to complete.
U.S. officials have not said whether they intend to treat vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers differently.
But UK diplomats fear that if they do, Britons who have had AstraZeneca’s sting could face tougher restrictions than those who have received US-approved vaccines.
A UK diplomat said: “AstraZeneca is proving a real problem. If the United States does not recognize this, it means that millions of Britons will not be able to travel if we accept a new corridor. ”
The White House said meetings on a U.S.-UK travel corridor were “active and ongoing.”
The British government spokesman said the US-UK working group was set up “to help relaunch UK-US travel as soon as possible”.
“Discussions between the working group are ongoing to ensure that the UK and the US closely share international travel policy thinking and experience,” the spokesman added. AstraZeneca declined to comment.
Additional reports by Jim Pickard, Donato Paolo Mancini and Philip Georgiadis
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