Travel industry stakeholders on Monday cheered the European Commission president's comments that she expects the European Union to accept travelers from outside the EU who've been vaccinated against Covid-19, but said additional steps must be taken to support the return of cross-border travel—particularly around the procedures by which travelers will prove they've been vaccinated.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Sunday, EC president Ursula von der Leyen said the EC plans to recommend allowing travelers from outside the EU to enter provided they've received a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency, the EU's drug regulator.
"All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A.," von der Leyen told the Times.
Because all three vaccines currently approved for use in the U.S.—Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson—have received EMA authorization, that means vaccinated Americans will be covered by the policy switch, the EC president added.
Von der Leyen didn't specify a concrete timeline as to when the EU will open its borders to approved travelers and added the caveat that the relaxing of restrictions will depend on the "epidemiological situation" in both origin nations and within the bloc.
International Air Transport Association director Willie Walsh called the plan as put forth by von der Leyen "a step in the right direction," but said more details of the EC's proposal are "essential" to help air carriers be fully prepared for the resumption of travel to the EU.
"It is imperative that the EC works with the industry so that airlines can plan within the public health benchmarks and timelines that will enable unconditional travel for those vaccinated," said Walsh in a statement.
The IATA director also cited as a critical element of the plan the method by which non-EU travelers will be expected to prove they've received an EMA-approved vaccine.
The Times cited unnamed EC officials who said talks between the EU and United States about certification procedures have been ongoing, and that temporary processes could include issuing an EU certificate equivalent to travelers who present a U.S.-issued certificate upon arrival.
But Walsh advocated for a more unified—and high-tech—approach, calling for the implementation of "clear, simple and secure digital processes for vaccination certificates."
Several such tools, commonly known as digital travel passports, have rolled out in recent months. Those include IATA's own Travel Pass, IBM's Digital Health Pass, the Certus MyHealthPass from Swiss security provider SICPA and the AOKpass, developed by the International Chamber of Commerce and travel risk management specialist International SOS.
But with each passport supported by a patchwork of different suppliers and jurisdictions, the health certificate ecosystem remains largely a work in progress.
"We are still awaiting the development of globally recognized standards for digital vaccine certificates," Walsh said.
Andrew Crawley, chief commercial officer of American Express Global Business Travel, applauded the EC plan as a move away from the "ineffective blanket quarantine measures" that had been in place, but he echoed the critical importance of establishing a cross-jurisdictional vaccine certification framework.
"Governments must still urgently agree on mutual recognition of the accredited Covid health certificates that travelers will need to leave and enter countries," Crawley said.
Additionally, Crawley called for the establishment of a "safe and seamless" travel corridor between the U.S. and U.K. "as soon as is feasible."
A U.S.-U.K. travel corridor "would be good for both economies and would be profitable for the many transatlantic airlines," Crawley said—adding that such a program would be simpler to design and implement than an EU-wide framework.
"The volumes would be manageable, and it would not be such a shock to the system as opening up large chunks of Europe," noted Crawley. "And crucially, the U.S.-U.K. routes could be a testbed for new processes around those digital health certificates, which has not yet been trialed at scale. This could provide a template for the overall restart of travel internationally.”
While the easing of border controls would benefit all types of travel, it could be a particular boon to corporate travel, as such restrictions ranked as the greatest barrier to the resumption of business travel in a recent survey by the Global Business Travel Association, noted GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang.
Neufang said the organization had been advocating an EU-wide approach to crafting and implementing relevant policies in order to minimize discrepancies between the rules in different member states.
"This coordinated approach across all of the 27 member states is vital to dispel confusion and restart transatlantic business travel," Neufang noted. "GBTA has been lobbying the EU commission for a collaborative return to business travel with a common approach across the region for a safe return to business travel."