Want to fly to Britain? Its struggling travel industry hopes it just got easier

In a summer full of depressing travel news,Canada finally delivered Stewart Wingate, the CEO of London's Gatwick Airport, something he could celebrate.

For the first time in almost a year,the blue star of Canada's third-largest carrier,Air Transat,was back at Gatwick as the airline resumed flights to the United Kingdom this week after a break during the pandemic.

"To have the Air Transat planes back in the sky, it's incredibly important to us," Wingate toldCBC in an interview from the rooftop of Gatwick's nearly deserted South Terminal.

Air Transat's return came just a few days before Britain revamped its international travel rules on Fridayin a bid to restore consumer confidence in taking an overseas holiday.Westjet,which also flies into Gatwick,had resumed flights from Calgary and Toronto in July.

Once the busiest single-runway airport in the world,with a plane taking off or landing roughly once a minute,Gatwick, 50kilometers south of London, isoperating at only one-third of its usual capacity. Pre-pandemic, Gatwick claims it wasEurope's 16th-busiest airport in terms of passenger volume, whereas now it has fallen to 64th place.

Gatwick's focus is largely on leisure traffic, and it's the hub for discount carrier EasyJet.

Likewise,London's No. 1airport Heathrow has also seen its passenger numbers fall off a cliff,dropping by more than 80 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

From the Gatwick terminal rooftop,the sight of many vacant departure gates illustrates the struggles Britain's diminished travel sector has faced.

The country's travel industry association, ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents,estimates the downturn has cost the country more than 100,000 direct travel-related jobs.

Missed rebound

European airports such as Frankfurt and Amsterdam, on the other hand,have rebounded much faster than those in the U.K. largely because their host countries have simplified their travel restrictions, saidWingate.

"We're only running at about half the level of the European airports."

All summer and now into the fall,Britain's airlines,tour operators and passenger rights groups have been engaged in an acrimonious fight with the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson as they pushedfor changes to Britain's international travel regulations.

The prime target has been the UK's "traffic light system,"which gave every country a classification green,amber or red depending on their level of vaccinations and the incidence of COVID-19.

The industry complained the ratings often changed without notice, and by mid-summer, ABTA claims 58 per centof travellers ended up cancelling holiday plans because of the uncertainty.

Travel,both outbound and returntothe U.K., has also required a series of pricey COVID-19 tests for passengers as many as four or five per return trip costing up to $130 Cdneach,which added another disincentive for taking a trip.

Visitors to red list countries are also required to hotel quarantine upon their returnfor 14 days, at a cost of up to $4,000 Cdn for an adult.

"The global economy's been incredibly damaged by COVID-19 and we need to get things moving," ABTA spokesperson Sean Tipton saidin an interview.

New rules

Finally, Johnson's government gave the industry much of what it was hoping for on Friday,with a "simpler, more straightforward system,"according Transportation Minister Grant Shapps.

The traffic light system will be replaced by two lists,a red list of countries where travel is banned for all but essential reasons and a green list for everywhere else.Canada has been on the U.K.'s green list since the last review three weeks ago.

Crucially, fully vaccinated travellers also won't have to pay for COVID-19PCR tests after they enter the U.K., which should eliminate cumbersome paperwork and reduce the cost of flying.

Instead,passengers will have to take a much cheaper and easier lateral flow test. Full hotel quarantines after returning from red list countries will still apply.

WATCH | Mishmash of regulations hindersinternational travel:

Mishmash of rules hampers international travel recovery during pandemic

3 years ago

Duration 2:00

AirTransat has resumed its flights from Canada to the U.K., which some hope points to a recovery for international travel that has been hampered by a mishmash of rules and low consumer confidence.

In terms of regulations, the new British rules will bring the country closer toCanada, which earlier this month opened up for international travel to fully vaccinated visitors.

A key difference is that Canada still requires passengers to have a PCR test within 72 hours of boarding their flight into the country.

Passengers flying back to Canada from Gatwickthis week had already taken off before the new rules were publicized.But Wendy Day,who was on her way to Toronto,said the simplified rules system was long overdue.

"If it wasn't for the fact that we were going to see our son, we probably wouldn'thave taken a holiday."

Prof.Kelley Lee of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., has been part of a multinational research effort studying the impact of travel restrictions during the COVID pandemic.

She saidthe U.K.'s "traffic light system" was never an effective way of dealing with the coronavirus becausedecisions over which countries to put on which list were inherently political and not based on science.

"That leaves open a lot of lobbying and a lot of undermining of public health,"Lee told CBCin an interview.

She said the broad conclusions of her research to date are that it's still too soon to ditch travel restrictions altogether as coronavirus variants are continuing to evolve.

While border controls can't keep the virus out, she said, they have been effective at slowing its spread.

"What you can do is slow the virus down.You can buy yourself a few days,even a few weeks."

However,Lee saidthere needs to be far better co-ordination and agreement among countries on what the rules for travel should be.

"It's very unco-ordinated. For the traveller, it's a nightmare. For the airlines, it's a nightmare."

Wingate,the Gatwick CEO,said with the new rule changes,passenger traffic in the U.K. should slowly ramp up again over the fall and into Christmas.

"We're a catalyst for the local economy," said Wingate, "but we also know we are a catalyst for routes at the other end. So when we are flying into Vancouver,Torontoor Calgary, we know what we are enabling is for global business to take place at both ends of that route."