The industry organizations representing North America’s major airlines have called on the Canadian government to release a clear plan for the restart of the Canada-US aviation transborder market that includes exempting fully vaccinated passengers from quarantine. And they want that plan before the next renewal of border restrictions on June 21.

In a joint letter to senior Canadian ministers, Mike McNaney, president and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC), and Nick Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America (A4A), write that “As vaccination rates increase exponentially in both countries, and provincial governments release their restart plans, now is the time for the federal government to engage immediately with airlines to deliver a clear roadmap and timeline to reopen the air border.”

The request adds the A4A to the list of tourism bodies calling for a roadmap to re-opening the border. A week ago, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable – a coalition of leaders in the tourism and travel sector in Canada that includes the NACC – made a similar plea.

Supporting the use of a data and science-based approach, the NACC and A4A believe the transborder restart plan must be based on the recommendations put forth late last month in a report by the Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel launched by Health Canada.

The Panel report, prepared by experts in epidemiology, virology as well as advanced data analytics, calls for a variety of changes to Canadian border and travel policy including elimination of quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers, elimination of hotel quarantine for all travellers, and reduction of quarantine for partially vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers.

Noting that other jurisdictions began releasing restart plans for international flights in April, and that reopening transborder air travel is essential for the economic recovery of both countries, the letter calls for the Canadian government to release the re-start plan before June 21, when the current border restrictions are scheduled to be renewed.

Collectively the NACC and A4A represent North America’s major commercial passenger airlines including Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation, WestJet, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines, jetBlue, Southwest and United. In addition to the transborder market, the NACC continues to also call on the Canadian government to move forward with a re-start strategy for international travel overall.