Coronavirus: what to expect as US reopens to vaccinated foreign travellers
- US reopens to foreign visitors from dozens of countries on Monday
- International travellers should expect to face bottlenecks at airports
The United States was expecting a flood of international visitors crossing its borders by air and by land after lifting travel restrictions for much of the world’s population first imposed in early 2020 to address the spread of Covid-19.
United Airlines was expecting about 50 per cent more total international inbound passengers on Monday compared to last Monday when it had about 20,000.
And Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian warned travellers should be prepared for initial long lines.
“It’s going to be a bit sloppy at first. I can assure you, there will be lines unfortunately,” Bastian said, adding that “we’ll get it sorted out”.
Delta said in the six weeks since the US reopening was announced it has seen a 450 per cent increase in international point-of-sale bookings versus the six weeks prior to the announcement.
White House spokesman Kevin Munoz said on Twitter “As we expect high demand when the US lifts its existing air and land travel restrictions Monday, we are taking critical steps to be prepared by providing additional resources”.