UK's new travel testing plan will boost flying, minister says

A 14-day quarantine for arrivals from most countries could be replaced by an as-yet unspecified shorter isolation period followed by a negative test result under plans that Transport Minister Grant Shapps set out last week. "I believe the measures I've outlined will result in significantly more people flying in the months ahead," Shapps told a virtual ABTA travel industry association event.

Britain's transport minister said on Wednesday that his coronavirus testing plans would get more people flying in the months ahead, sounding an optimistic note at a time when travel companies are struggling to survive. A 14-day quarantine for arrivals from most countries could be replaced by an as-yet unspecified shorter isolation period followed by a negative test result under plans that Transport Minister Grant Shapps set out last week.

"I believe the measures I've outlined will result in significantly more people flying in the months ahead," Shapps told a virtual ABTA travel industry association event. Airlines have cut back their already anaemic flying schedules for autumn due to mounting travel restrictions as a second wave of infections spreads across Europe.

Shapps said the government was working hard to get the new arrivals regime in place; final details are due in early November. "A lot of the key decisions, a lot of the science and a lot of work has already gone on, and this is in order to implement it," he said.

The International Air Transport Association has said the plan does not go far enough, because 80% of travellers told it they would not fly at all if any quarantine were in place. ABTA, representing 4,300 UK travel brands, urged the government to provide more support. Tens of thousands of jobs have already been axed in travel and more losses are certain when a government job support scheme ends this month.

Shapps said his focus was on enabling travel: "Being able to open up more travel corridors by enabling test-and-release, and indeed removing quarantine entirely, would be bluntly better than anything that the taxpayer could do to support."

He said a recovery plan for the aviation industry would be set out later this autumn.