The U.S. will open its borders to vaccinated foreigners on Nov. 8, a White House official said, allowing access to millions of people banished from the country while it was closed to anyone who was not vaccinated.
The revision represents the biggest change in U.S. travel policy since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and replaces a system that outright bans most foreign nationals traveling direct from major markets such as Europe, India, Brazil and China.
Under the new system, vaccinated people who had a negative test in the last 72 hours can board a flight to the United States as long as they share contact tracing information. Unvaccinated foreigners are generally denied entry, while unvaccinated Americans require a negative COVID-19 test.
The move was first announced on September 20, but the Biden government did not immediately say when the measures would take effect.
“Restoring non-stop connections with Europe is critical to the economy, businesses, and tourism of our Tampa Bay area, as well as to reconnecting families,” said Joe Lopano, CEO of Tampa International Airport.
Under the new federal guidelines, Lopano expects more overseas flights from Tampa to resume soon. While domestic air traffic has largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, international air traffic at Tampa Airport has declined nearly 85 percent.
British Airways flights from Tampa to London are scheduled to return on November 1st. Flights to Frankfurt will begin on December 16 with Lufthansa Eurowings Discover. Edelweiss Air’s flights to Zurich will resume in March 2022. More connections to Canada are expected to return in November.
The airlines stricken by the coronavirus crisis have welcomed the move and started expanding their flight schedules for the winter and beyond. The fixed date will give airlines such as United Airlines Holdings Inc., British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., which operate in the lucrative transatlantic market, more security in staffing and planning fuel purchases.
The move “is finally enabling consumers and businesses to book travel with confidence,” said Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, in a statement sent via email. The airline has stepped up its flights to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco from its base at London Heathrow.
Flights between the US and Europe – filled with premium travelers – form the most profitable part of the global aviation market. Airlines on both sides of the Atlantic have been campaigning for connections to be reopened since mid-2020, only to dash hopes with each surge in infections.
United shares gained 1.5%, while Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group also gained. The Bloomberg EMEA Airlines Index rose 3.2%.
The move to a vaccine-based entry system brings the US in line with the European Union, which started using COVID Passport apps earlier this summer, and the UK, which has switched over in recent weeks. Asian centers like Singapore, which have generally maintained stricter curbs, have also begun to relax travel rules.
For the USA, an opening along the land borders with Canada and Mexico will also apply on November 8, which was announced at the beginning of this week.
The US considers people arriving by air to be vaccinated if they have received vaccinations that are either approved by the Food and Drug Administration or have an emergency list from the World Health Organization.
The same will likely apply to those arriving by land, said the official, who added that children under the age of 18 are likely to be exempt. People who have mixed vaccinations from two different providers will be treated as vaccinated, the person said.
The decision to accept WHO-approved syringes that are not used in the US means that millions of travelers bought by AstraZeneca Plc as well as China’s Sinopharm Group and Sinovac Biotech Ltd. developed doses are allowed to enter.
Nonetheless, vaccine dependency will raise questions about access, as countries with fewer resources to adopt vaccines are way behind the richest.
The Times staffer, Bernadette Berdychowski, contributed to this report.
