MAG’s plea came as it posted August passenger numbers down 68% on the same month in 2019, warning the "chaos and confusion" being caused by the current traffic light regime risked further slowing the recovery of the UK’s aviation and travel industries.
The group said it served just 1.5 million passengers between June and August 2021, a mere 16% of the almost 10 million that flew from the group’s airports during the same period in 2019.
It is calling for urgent reform of the UK’s traffic light regime ahead of a third and final Global Travel Taskforce checkpoint review on 1 October "to protect the travel sector through the winter season and restore consumer confidence now for bookings next summer".
MAG wants the government to implement a two-tier system with no mandatory testing for fully vaccinated arrivals from countries with no evidence of there being new Covid-19 variants circulating.
"A two-tier system would see the majority of international markets open for travel as the default, with only those countries which pose a significant public health risk from new variants subject to travel restrictions such as testing and a period of quarantine," said MAG.
"This proposal would remove the chaos and confusion caused by the traffic light system and restore consumer confidence by reducing concerns about last-minute changes which have been commonplace this summer."
Additionally, the group said ending mandatory PCR testing for fully vaccinated arrivals would remove a "costly and unnecessary" barrier to travel and "bring the UK’s travel policy back in line with Europe".
"The government has previously justified the need for these tests because they allow for monitoring of variants among inbound passengers, but the latest government-published data shows that fewer than 30% of positive test results are actually sequenced to identify variants," said MAG.
"Together, these changes would allow for the fuller and more sustainable recovery UK aviation requires as it closes the door on two lost summer periods."
MAG chief executive Charlie Cornish said it was time to give UK travellers back the freedom to travel now that the majority of domestic restrictions in the UK have been eased.
“The UK’s over-cautious and unnecessarily complex traffic light system is confusing to customers and places needless barriers in the way of them booking travel," said Cornish. “The impact that is having on our sector is clear, with traffic levels recovering at a much greater rate across Europe than here in the UK.
“Meanwhile, the rest of the economy has been opened-up to those who are double-jabbed, leaving travel as the only sector whose recovery is being held back for no logical reason."
