An official announcement will be made later on Friday. The step comes as the busy summer travel season begins and airlines are already preparing for record demand. Airlines have said that many Americans do not travel internationally due to concerns that they will be positive and will be excluded abroad. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that science and data show that COVID tests before departure are no longer necessary, said the official, who declined to be named. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The measure will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday and the CDC will reconsider the decision in 90 days, the official said. The United States requires incoming international air travelers to take a negative test before departure by January 2021. In December, the CDC tightened rules to require travelers to be negative within one day before flights to United States instead of three days. The CDC has not required tests for land border crossings. The official said: “If there is a need to rectify a pre-departure test requirement – including due to a new, relevant variant – the CDC will not hesitate to act.” Many countries in Europe and elsewhere have already abandoned testing requirements. The CDC still requires most non-US citizens to be vaccinated against COVID to travel to the United States. Two officials told Reuters that the administration had considered lifting the test rules only for vaccinated travelers. An American Airlines Boeing 777 takes off from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France near Paris, France on December 2, 2021. REUTERS / Sarah Meyssonnier / File Photo read more Airlines for America, a trading group representing major airlines, said that “removing this policy will help encourage and restore air travel to the United States.” IATA, the world’s largest airline trading group, hailed what it called “extremely good news” that the government was “abolishing the ineffective COVID test before traveling to the United States”. In April, a federal judge ruled that the CDC’s requirement for travelers to wear masks on airplanes and at transit points such as airports was illegal, and the administration stopped imposing them. The Ministry of Justice has appealed against the order, but there is no possibility of a decision at the earliest.
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American Airlines (AAL.O) CEO Robert Isom told a conference last week that the test requirements were “stupid” and were depressing for leisure and business travel. Several lawmakers had pressed the Biden government to lift the test rules, recently contacting senior White House officials to support the case. “I am pleased that the CDC has suspended the burdensome requirement for a coronavirus test for international travelers,” said Nevada Sen. Kathryn Cortez Masto. Raymond James said in a research note that lifting the restrictions “is an important catalyst for international travel.” Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) CEO Ed Bastian told Reuters last week that the lifting of the requirements would boost travel, noting that 44 of Delta’s 50 countries do not require testing. Roger Dow, chief executive of the U.S. Travel Association, said Friday’s move would “accelerate the recovery of the U.S. travel industry,” which has been hit hard by the pandemic. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by David Shepardson Edited by Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Porter and Frances Kerry Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
