U.S. Airlines Brace for Another Lost Summer for Transatlantic Travel
Photo Credit: Airlines fear it may be too late for most transatlantic travelers this summer. Flickr / Bobby Hidy
Skift Take
The EU may very well open to vaccinated Americans this summer but airlines and analysts are already writing off 2021 as yet another lost summer travel season on the transatlantic. Better luck in 2022.
Europe is slowly reopening to travelers. Italy has dropped its mandatory quarantine for Europeans and Israelis with negative PCR tests, and the first flights to "green list" countries from the UK took off on Monday.
But all the positive news is arriving a moment too late for the typically busy transatlantic summer travel season. With the U.S. excluded from the first green list and talk of the EU reopening to vaccinated travelers still just talk, most Americans are booking their vacations closer to home with few expecting them to change plans mid-course and spring for Europe when restrictions ease.
"We’re probably getting to the point where we're too late in the booking curve for the rest of Europe," United Airlines CEO Scott
