Reacting to the UK Government's review of international travel rules, Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive of London City Airport, said:
"We welcome the Government’s decision to ease international travel restrictions next month. The replacement of the traffic light system with a simpler and more-risk based approach is a confidence boost for London City Airport and our airlines heading into the autumn.” We are pleased the Government has decided to exempt fully vaccinated travellers from the complex and costly testing requirements, and the abolition of pre-departure tests, and the ability to use quicker and cheaper lateral flow tests on arrival, will encourage more international visitors and business travellers to fly inbound into the UK. However, traffic remains well below pre-pandemic levels and the aviation industry in the UK has fallen behind other countries in Europe and around the world, which is why we need a stable, consistent and globally harmonized regime, alongside a roadmap for the return of restriction-free international travel for all in the months ahead. At London City, we have seen British Airways add more destinations and capacity, and we have recently welcomed the return of Lufthansa and SWISS to the airport. The restoration of more routes and frequencies to our network as demand for business travel picks up will mean that passengers can once again easily and quickly connect to nearly 30 domestic and European destinations from London’s most central airport."