United, Delta, and American Airlines call for Biden lift restrictions and approve transatlantic travel between the US and UK

• Airline bosses have called for restrictions on US-UK travel to be relaxed in a joint statement.
• United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are among the six carriers calling for a travel corridor.
• Airlines have suffered record losses since the start of the pandemic.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Airline bosses have called the opening of a travel corridor between the US and UK amid both countries’ “world-leading vaccination programmes” in a joint statement released Monday.

The chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and JetBlue joined British carriers Virgin Atlantic, and British Airways in urging President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lift travel restrictions between the two countries.

The bosses of the US Travel Association and London’s Heathrow Airport also joined the call ahead of the G7 meeting in Cornwall, England this week.

“There is a clear opportunity to safely open up travel between these two low-risk countries,” the statement said.

The group urged the US government to allow fully vaccinated UK travelers, or those who can show a negative COVID-19 test, to enter the country.

The US is on the UK’s “amber list” for travel, meaning that visitors arriving from the US into the country must quarantine for 10 days, and take two COVID-19 tests.

“Experts have encouraged governments, businesses and the public to follow the science,” United CEO Scott Kirby said. “United and other airlines have done that and implemented the necessary safety protocols to re-open key international routes like the air corridor between our two countries. We are ready.”

Airlines posted record losses in 2020 after the pandemic forced them to suspend international travel. American Airlines reported a $8.9 billion annual loss in 2020.

International airlines are expected to lose up to $157 billion across 2020 and 2021, the International Air Transport Association predicted last year.

Many have announced new incentives to encourage people to travel – United offered its MileagePlus passengers a chance to win a year of free flights.

United said last week that it would require all external US-based hires to be vaccinated against COVID-19, following a similar decision by Delta last month.