European governments have been urged by aviation organisations to lift all travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers, as a new EU-wide travel regime comes into force from Tuesday (1 February).
ACI Europe (Airports Council International) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said those holding a valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate should not face any restrictions when travelling within the EU.
Although a new travel regime has been adopted by the EU Council based on travellers’ health status - rather than the Covid situation in the country or region they are travelling from - member states can still decide on their own entry policies and restrictions.
ACI Europe and IATA called for countries which “continue to deviate from the common EU framework to rapidly align with it”. This follows similar calls from other travel industry bodies last week.
“Specifically, we call upon the governments of Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Malta to address this issue as a matter of urgency and abandon unnecessary and damaging restrictions,” said the two organisations.
They also revealed research showing the “inefficiency of recent travel restrictions” in stopping the spread of Covid-19 around the continent. This study focused on the way Finland and Italy have used travel policies to try to mitigate Covid outbreaks.
The study found that even if countries had imposed travel restrictions on the day Omicron was first identified as a variant in November 2021, it would not have stopped or significantly limited the variant’s spread in Italy and Finland.
Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe’s director general, said: “The new regime for intra-EU/EEA travel is right to focus on a person-based approach and to recognise that both vaccinated and recovered travellers should not be subjected to any restriction.
“But having common EU regimes has so far not prevented states from going their own way. This must stop. We now have further proof – travel restrictions do have a significant effect – but it’s not on public health, it’s on economic stability and livelihoods.”
Both ACI and IATA also called for the EU to “urgently” extend its recommended framework for travel within the bloc to those arriving from third countries, such as the UK.
Conrad Clifford, IATA’s deputy director general, added: “Keeping testing in place for vaccinated passengers seems completely ineffective from the health point of view, but damages passenger confidence and national economies."
“This latest research should give governments confidence to implement the EU recommendation in full, enabling Europe to get moving again.”
As part of the EU’s travel framework, there are also new rules for the EU Digital Covid Certificate, which is now valid for a period of 270 days without a vaccine booster jab.
“Under these new EU rules for intra-EU travel, member states must accept any vaccination certificate that has been issued less than nine months since the administration of the last dose of the primary vaccination,” explained the European Commission.
“Member states are not able to provide for a shorter nor for a longer acceptance period.”