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More Than 260 Travel Businesses Want Pre-Departure Testing Ended

Despite repeated calls from the travel industry, the pre-departure testing requirement for entry into the United States will not be eliminated anytime soon. The White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha received a letter from more than 260 travel industry and business groups urging him to remove the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated foreign flight passengers who have already received their vaccinations.

They note in the letter that improved public health technologies have made it possible to control infections, and that many other countries have already taken measures to phase out testing. They also call for an end to testing altogether.

According to the group’s statement, the extensive variety of public health strategies available to successfully control COVID-19, along with hospital-grade ventilation systems aboard flights and the necessity for incoming immunization, have made international air travel safer than it has been in the past.

In addition, the groups point out that other nations have done away with the necessity to test.

According to the association, numerous foreign countries with comparable infection, vaccination, and hospitalization rates, including as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada, have dropped pre-departure testing requirements for passengers who have received their vaccinations before traveling.

Furthermore, because the federal government no longer requires negative tests for entry at our land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico, it no longer makes sense to maintain a pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirement for vaccinated international air travelers arriving in the United States via international air travel routes.

Members of the letter’s signatories include representatives from a wide range of major corporations, trade associations, airports, airlines, and other organizations, including Disney, American Airlines, the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, the Los Angeles World Airports, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the United States Travel Association, the United States Tour Operators Association, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and others.

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