American Express Global Business Travel has called for managed business travel to be exempt from new quarantine measures implemented by the U.K. Government this week.
The travel management company, the largest operating in the U.K., has been in dialogue with the U.K. Department for Transport and has proposed that trips booked through TMCs should be made an exception alongside other specific roles, enabling business travel to be "the engine room that really kickstarts the economy."
GBT chief commercial officer Drew Crawley said the current 14-day self-isolation rule is "irrational, disproportionate and unhelpful" and "stops travel and economic recovery in its tracks".
"We obviously proposed [to the DfT] that quarantine measures should be removed, but in the event that's not going to happen immediately, an interim step may be to allow managed business travel to be made an exception in the same way that other roles and jobs are being made an essential category," Crawley told BTN Europe.
"It would allow airports and airlines to test their new Covid-ready processes, get a little bit of volume through, test those processes and win confidence.
"Bookings through TMCs mean travelers can be contacted and located during, before and after their trips. That data should give comfort to employers and employees."
Crawley added: "China and South Korea have already made business travel an exception to their quarantine rules so it's not uncharted territory that we're talking about."
GBT is also providing the DfT with data covering top business destinations, with the government exploring the concept of air bridges or 'international travel corridors'.
The Quash Quarantine group—of which the TMC is not a member—said it has received private assurances that air bridges could be in place by June 29 when the first Government review of the measures is due.
However, GBT believes the data it supplies the DfT will help determine the most strategically important destinations—those most valuable to the U.K. economy—with which to try and establish air bridges, rather than simply the nations willing to open up to the U.K.
The TMC has also put its name to a proposal from The Business Travel Association to trial PCR tests for passengers returning from Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam—three key business destinations—that would mean travelers wouldn't need to self-isolate for 14 days.
As well as the three cities named by the BTA, GBT's most-booked destinations include New York, Madrid, Zurich and Brussels.