Corona pandemic
USA flights open again for vaccinated EU citizens
Around 20 months after the corona-related entry ban for EU citizens, you can enter the USA again almost unhindered. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Air travel to the USA is again possible for normal EU citizens. This leads to full check-in halls and high bookings at least until Christmas.
Millions of EU citizens have been able to enter the USA again since Monday, provided they are fully vaccinated and also tested negative for the corona virus. Various companies from German airports reported that their machines were busy and that there was a large demand for bookings.
For the coming weeks, the capacity utilization will be like in the pre-crisis year 2019, explained Lufthansa manager Klaus Froese at Frankfurt Airport. His company alone flies 160 connections a week from Frankfurt and Munich to 19 US destinations in the winter flight schedule – an enormous increase after 30 connections in summer.
Christmas shopping in New York or beach holidays in Florida also attract many tourists back to the USA, said the tourism group Tui. “We see a clear catching-up effect in trips, both with short-term bookings, especially by couples and small groups for November and December, as well as with long-term trips by families during the Easter and summer holidays,” explained Tui Germany boss Stefan Baumert.
Good for transatlantic relations
The mechanical engineering association VDMA welcomed the step back into «normal mode». It was not possible for most business people to work the American market the way they would have liked to. At the end of the travel restrictions, Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier said: “This is good for our transatlantic relations, good for the economy and good for people.”
As the first machine after the ban, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 took off from Frankfurt to New York shortly before 9 a.m. on Monday morning. In addition to Lufthansa, the large American companies and the Condor holiday airline are also active on the German market. The routes across the North Atlantic are also of great economic importance for the other European network airlines such as British Airways or Air France-KLM.
Since early Monday morning, EU citizens have been allowed to return to the USA after a full vaccination against the coronavirus with internationally recognized preparations and current tests. Until now, this required a special permit from the US government. Despite the entry ban, US citizens, diplomats and people from various non-EU nations have already been allowed to fly. US citizens have been able to enter the EU again since June.
Unvaccinated foreign nationals are only allowed to enter the country if they meet certain criteria for exceptional cases and undertake to undergo a corona test after their arrival, to go into quarantine and to be vaccinated. In addition, the travelers have to provide personal information so that they can be reached by the authorities.