Since March, almost all European citizens have been barred from traveling to the United States due to the current corona pandemic. Similar restrictions apply to Americans who want to travel to the EU.

The result has been that the big airlines are on their knees and losing billions in revenue.

testing Programs

The airlines United Airlines, American Airlines, Lufthansa and International Airlines Group, which includes British Airways, therefore appeal in a letter to Mike Pence and Ylva Johansson to quickly restore "safe flights between the US and Europe", writes the news agency Reuters.

The airlines want the US and the EU to adopt a joint testing program to be able to resume air traffic across the Atlantic. The tests are intended to prevent corona-infected people from boarding the aircraft, but the letter does not state exactly how they will proceed.

Enormous loss of revenue

According to a forecast from IATA, the aviation industry's own organization, in mid-April, this year's ticket revenues appear to decrease by a staggering SEK 3,140 billion due to covid-19. A race of 55 percent compared to 2019.

Since March, many airlines have sharply cut their organizations. At the end of April, SAS notified 5,000 employees, almost half of its staff, of redundancies.