Covid-19 Travel Chatter

Several European airlines have written a letter to both the EU and the US......trying to get them into a room and talk over the Covid-19 situation and how to ease travel restrictions.

ARD (German public TV, Channel One) did a decent job of laying out the letter and problem.

First, lets admit that flying is nowhere near 'normal'.  Most German airports will say they are somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of the traffic they had from the same period of 2019.  The airlines need a return to normal or they need to rebalance the manpower situation (meaning terminate).

The airlines involved?  Both US and European.

The basic suggestion?  Aircrews and passengers would submit themselves (on both sides of the Atlantic) to a Covid-test....say 24 to 48 hours prior to the flight.  You pass....you fly.  You fail....you stay where you are.

My guess is that the airlines would prefer to have x-crew test and pass....make the flight...spend 24 hours in a rest stage and return to Europe on their 2nd flight without another test. 

The cost factor?  No one brings this up.  In Frankfurt (at the airport), there's the short version which runs in the 200 Euro range, and the 8-hour version which runs around 110 Euro.  For a passenger?  Well....it'd be your burden and you can figure on top of the 800 Euro airline ticket....you'd be spending around 300 to 400 Euro for going-test and returning-test.

If you flew into Frankfurt from the US, and spent two weeks....then got ready to return, but failed the Covid-test?  No one says much.  I would assume that you'd have to go and quarantine, but the question would be....where?  Would you then spend two weeks in some Darmstadt compound....paying 75 Euro a day for a box-lunch and a quarantine bunk? 

So you go and look at the past relationship of the EU and the US on negotiations.  These typically would take months and months to iron out details.  The airlines don't have months to sit and wait on this.  In some cases, they've already hinted that by the end of 2020.....unless matters drastically improve....layoffs are coming.

Even if they did accomplish this agreement in six weeks, and agree on a unified testing program.....would people be convinced to travel again?  I have my doubts. Just hinting to someone that you might end up with Covid-19 and get pushed into some French or Italian quarantine 'center' for possibly three weeks?  That kinda drains out most enthusiasm for traveling.