The global travel taskforce set up by the government to
look at ways to reduce the need for travellers returning to the UK to go into quarantine
has held its first meeting.
Speaking at today’s Airlines 2050 conference,
organised by Airlines UK, BAR UK, Flightglobal and IATA, transport minister
Grant Shapps said the taskforce had held its first meeting last Thursday.
The taskforce is chaired by Shapps and health
secretary Matt Hancock but also includes representatives of NHS
Test and Trace, Public Health England, HM Treasury, the Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and other government departments.
Shapps said the taskforce was “working
actively with industry”.
At the first meeting representatives of Airlines
UK, BAR-UK, IAG, easyJet, Virgin, the Airport
Operators Association, Manchester Airports Group, Heathrow Airport, Eurostar, ABTA and others from the industry took
part.
The taskforce is exploring the concept of a single test a week after arrival.
“I know some have promoted the idea that we
should test at borders,” he said, “but we have not done so, because the chief medical
officer has made clear that it wouldn’t capture sufficient information on those
who are asymptomatically carrying the virus. In fact, Public Heath England, the
Joint Biosecurity Centre and the London School of Tropical Disease and Medicine
have all examined the issue.”
He added: “Accepting a day zero test on arrival
could allow a very significant number of people to wrongly believe they were
not bringing Covid-19 back with them. And if that happened, it wouldn’t just be
travellers, but it would also be the travel industry that would be the victim
of travel having reimported cases."
“In addition to this ‘test and
release’ model we are also working on schemes with partner countries to
establish whether self-isolation could take place before departure. I know it’s
confusing for passengers when every nation has a different system. We need a
global system and the UK will show leadership by developing a framework for
international travel in order to provide global consistency. Indeed, we will
consider all options that increase tourism and business travel, but do so
safely,” he said.
Shapps argued that the government had paid more
than 55,000 aviation employees up to 80% of their wages through the furlough
scheme, and £1.8 billion to the aviation industry through Covid corporate financing.
The transport minister said that the government would
produce an Aviation Recovery Plan later this autumn which
would set out more measures to boost air travel, while continuing to prevent
the spread of the virus. The plan will cover issues such as
regional connectivity, economic growth, skills and workforce, and
decarbonisation, said the Department for Transport.
Shapps concluded: “I don’t underestimate how
difficult things are right now. But aviation will recover and when it does, it
won’t be picking up from where we were at the start of 2020. It won’t be a
simple return to normal service.”