The reopening of the external borders of the countries of the EU is done in a “chaotic” way, which “clearly undermines” the restarting of the air sector after its forced stop linked to the new coronavirus, denounce two big organizations representing the companies and the airports.
Airlines for Europe (A4E), which brings together 16 air carriers – including Air France-KLM, IAG, Lufthansa, Ryanair or EasyJet -, and ACI Europe, which claims to represent more than 500 airports in 45 European countries, share this statement in a press release received on Thursday.
“Divergent national approaches are hurting our single market and will slow the long-awaited recovery in aviation and tourism,” said Thomas Reynaert, Managing Director of A4E. “The situation is also creating unequal conditions of competition in Europe at a time when our sector is still struggling for its survival,” he added in this press release.
For his part, Olivier Jankovec, his ACI Europe counterpart, believes that the sector “cannot afford to get out of the situation as chaotic” as it entered it. “The EU countries are not respecting the agreement they reached together. This does not promote consumer confidence and clearly undermines the efforts” for recovery, he laments.
The member countries of the EU and the Schengen area have decided to reopen their external borders from July 1 to travelers from around fifteen countries, as part of a non-binding recommendation adopted on June 30. “Non-essential” travel to the EU was banned in mid-March to help stop the spread of the pandemic.
But some European countries deviate from the agreement and impose their own conditions. A4E and ACI Europe cite Belgium, Germany, Greece and Hungary.
For example, Greece has decided to ban the entry of Serbian nationals on its soil, “thus going against the Council (EU) recommendations and the principle of non-discrimination”, according to the two organizations. .
Serbia is one of the 14 countries whose travelers are accepted according to the agreement of June 30 (plus China provided that reciprocity applies).
Another case considered problematic: despite this agreement, Belgium decided not to reopen its borders to travelers from 15 third countries, citing health and reciprocity reasons.
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