Europe faces significant disruption to air transport as a growing number of countries bans flights from Britain due to fears over a new coronavirus strain, prompting airlines to repeat calls for more testing to keep borders open, Reuters reports. "We''ll see a significant impact on the network as a result of the new (coronavirus) variant in the UK," the head of the pan-European air traffic control agency wrote on Twitter. Shares in European airlines fell sharply, led by UK-based carriers easyJet, down almost 10 percent, and British Airways owner IAG, down by 9 percent. As EU officials met to try to forge a coordinated response, airlines issued a fresh appeal to step up testing regimes to keep borders open. "Governments must cooperate to put mutually recognized testing capacity in place so that borders can remain open to the vast majority of healthy passengers," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.

Source: The Standard December 21, 2020 14:37 UTC