AMSTERDAM/PARIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) – The Dutch government said on Friday it could soften its demands for returning air crews to carry out rapid COVID-19 tests, after airline KLM moved to cancel its long-haul operations and warned that the shutdown could affect vaccine distribution.
As part of stricter coronavirus measures announced on Wednesday, the government said it will also require all arriving passengers and crew to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 rapid test, taken just before departure. It had already required a negative test taken within 72 hours of travel.
The Dutch carrier, part of airline group Air France-KLM , had announced on Thursday that it would cancel its remaining 270 weekly long-haul flights starting from Friday in response to the new restrictions.
KLM is “still discussing an alternative solution and has therefore not yet cancelled any flights,” an airline spokeswoman said on Friday.
Any shutdown would also affect cargo flights that are used to transport vaccines, the spokeswoman confirmed. “So it may indeed be the case that vaccine shipments run into issues.”
Infrastructure Minister Cora van Niewenhuizen, who on Thursday had defended the testing plans in parliament, said on Friday that she was open to alternatives.
“My preference as minister of aviation is obviously that they should be able to fly as normal, but it has to be safe,” she said. “That is my only criterion.”
More infectious COVID-19 variants are prompting new layers of travel restrictions around the world, just when the battered travel industry had hoped to see the start of a recovery.
Cabin crews that had largely been exempt from testing requirements face being caught up in the tighter measures and potentially stranded overseas in the event of a positive test.
KLM warned that halting long-haul would wipe out cargo earnings that have been a financial lifeline for the industry during the coronavirus crisis. It announced on Thursday an additional 1,000 job cuts, on top of 5,000 already planned.
Airline bodies are calling on governments to embrace rapid testing but to avoid unilateral measures.
“We need a uniform approach,” said a spokeswoman for Brussels-based Airlines for Europe, representing the region’s biggest airlines. “Continuing with the current approach isn’t working – it’s getting really messy.” (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Laurence Frost; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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