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EU, U.S. Attempt to halt Transatlantic Travel: European Airline fragile

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Most European airline stocks fell on Tuesday after the EU removed the United States from its “safe travel” list, and the latter issued a “do not travel” caution for many countries on the continent. In London trading, IAG (LON: ICAG), the parent company of British Airways, slumped 2.7 percent. Air France KLM (PA: AIRF) closed unchanged.

Deutsche Lufthansa (DE: LHAG) declined 1.1 percent as investors chose to disregard CEO Carsten Spohr’s statement that the German airline will achieve positive cash flow this summer. The United States upped the warning level for arrivals from both Germany and neighboring Switzerland on Monday. Both EasyJet (LON: EZJ) and Ryanair (LON: RYA) experienced a decline of 1.7 percent and 2.1%, respectively.

The spike in Covid-19 cases in the two locations drove the respective choices, particularly in the former, where the transmission of the delta variant has brought the number of new infections to levels last seen during the pandemic’s peak this winter. More than 155,000 new coronavirus cases and 1,200 deaths are reported every day in the United States, with the majority of cases and deaths occurring among the unvaccinated.

The EU’s decision isn’t legally enforceable because public health policy is still a member state’s responsibility. In a crucial loophole, it also includes waivers for those who have been completely vaccinated. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN), and Johnson & Johnson are among the vaccine manufacturers whose vaccines have been approved by the European Union. Quarantines, additional testing procedures upon arrival, or even a total ban on all non-essential travel from the United States might be imposed on U.S. travellers, according to an Associated Press storey.