Vaccine passports: Travel ‘very complicated’ says Heathrow boss in call for ‘simpler’ app
Travel: John Holland-Kaye discusses vaccine ‘checks’
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Vaccine passports are considered by many as the key to unlocking travel once Britons are allowed to jet-set once again. It’s hoped international travel can resume from May 17, although this date is subject to review. Today, John Holland-Kaye, the CEO of Heathrow Airport, spoke to the BBC about the potential vaccine certificates.
He added: “And if you think about your last holiday, you probably checked in online and you sailed through the airport.”
“At the moment, it takes 20 minutes per person for each person to go through all those checks.”
In short, a digital vaccine passport would be much more useful.
“We need to turn that into something far simpler that can be done on a phone or an app, rather than having all these pieces of paper,” said Holland-Kaye.
He added: “And if you think about your last holiday, you probably checked in online and you sailed through the airport.”
“At the moment, it takes 20 minutes per person for each person to go through all those checks.”
In short, a digital vaccine passport would be much more useful.
“We need to turn that into something far simpler that can be done on a phone or an app, rather than having all these pieces of paper,” said Holland-Kaye.
“So that’s what we’re going to be working on with the government over the next three months.”
The CEO is hopeful for the May date and the time the travel industry now has to prepare for the reopening of getaways.
What’s more, this is a great opportunity for the UK to lead the way.
“The UK has a great advantage here because we can start to set what the rules will be for other countries, opening up their travel as well because we are so far ahead of other countries with vaccination differences,” said Holland-Kaye.
“So I think the UK can show some real leadership internationally so they have some common standards between different countries.”
At the moment, travel is fraught with problems that may well put people off jet-setting – another reason an app or vaccine passport would help.
“If you are going on holiday, you won’t just be worrying about whether you can get back into this country, you’ll be worrying about whether you can go to the country that you want to go and visit and if you have to have different sets of checks and tests for coming back into the UK,” he explained.
“Going to that country is just going to make it very complicated and difficult to get your head around, particularly if it keeps on changing.
“That’s where I think the UK can help to work with other countries – have some common international standards for the kind of checks and tests that you have to have, and the way in which you demonstrate you have them and moving to some kind of an app will be the best way of doing that.”
Holland-Kaye’s insight comes as Heathrow today reported an annual loss of £2billion.
“Passenger numbers collapsed to 22.1m, more than half of whom travelled in January and February,” said the airport in a statement.
Calling for Government action, Heathrow said: “The March Budget is the key opportunity for the Chancellor to support the sector by providing 100 percent business rates relief, extending the furlough scheme and reversing the tourist tax.”
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