Washington (Reuters)-The Biden administration withdraws pre-departure Covid-19 international aviation inspection requirements, which will take effect on Sunday (June 12) at 12:01 am, after intense lobbying from airlines and the travel industry. A senior government official told Reuters.
The Biden administration does not require a pre-departure Covid-19 test for travelers coming to the United States on Friday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that this requirement is not present based on science and data. I will announce that. I need it already.
Officials said the CDC will reassess this decision within 90 days.
Since December, the CDC has required travelers to have a negative test within one day prior to their flight to the United States, but not a border crossing.
Officials said: “The CDC will not hesitate to act if pre-departure inspection requirements need to be reinstated (including those with new, related variants).”
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said at a meeting last week that the test requirements were “meaningless” and “depressing” leisure and business trips.
The airline says many Americans aren’t traveling abroad because of concerns that they may test positive and get stuck abroad.
Isom said that 75% of the countries in which the United States serves do not have testing requirements.
“We’re really frustrated and this isn’t just about traveling to the United States, it’s damaging that it doesn’t make sense,” Isom said last week.
In December, the CDC tightened the requirements for international air travelers to take a negative test within one day instead of three days after arriving in the United States.
