The United States is preparing for long queues and delays at airports and land border crossings on Monday, the first day of lifting multi-month restrictions on non-US foreign nationals fully vaccinated against Covid-19, a senior official told Reuters yesterday.
The US government “expects accumulated demand for travel, which will lead to longer-than-usual waiting times for travelers,” the official said. The government has increased staffing to pre-pandemic levels, but “long queues are expected in the first few days”.
The United States on Monday lifted travel restrictions on fully vaccinated air travelers from 33 countries and on their land borders with Mexico and Canada, ending a travel ban that took effect in early 2020 to counter the spread of Covid- 19.
The official said that the traffic at the land border is around 70% of the levels of 2019 at the southwestern border and at 30% of the levels of 2019 at the northern border.
“The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue to adjust its resources to meet traffic congestion requirements and ensure operational security while balancing its mission to facilitate trade and national security,” he said. official. Travelers should be familiar with the new instructions and have their documents ready in advance, the official noted.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian also said travelers should be prepared for long queues starting Monday.
“It will be a bit messy at first. I can assure you, unfortunately there will be queues … but we will put it aside,” Bastian said.
Delta stressed that in the six weeks following the announcement of the lifting of travel bans, there was a 450% increase in international bookings at booking points.
United Airlines expects about 50% more incoming international passengers overall on Monday compared to November 1, when they numbered about 20,000.
President Biden’s government is in constant contact with US airlines to prepare for the influx of extra passengers arriving at the country’s airports.
Restrictions imposed by the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 barred mostly non-US nationals from entering the country within 14 days in any of the 33 countries – the 26 Schengen countries, China, India, South Africa, Iran, Brazil, Britain and Ireland.
Also Monday, new contact tracking rules will come into force, requiring airlines to collect information from international airline passengers, if needed, “to keep in touch information from travelers exposed to variants of Covid-19 or other pathogens “.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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Source From: Capital
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