Several days ago President Trump announced a new travel ban for Europe. With this, non-Americans who have been in the Schengen area of Europe in the past 14 days can't enter the US. Well, this is now being extended.

Europe travel ban extended to UK & Ireland

As of midnight ET on Monday, the current Europe travel ban will be expanded to include the UK and Ireland. This means that non-Americans who have been to the Schengen area, or to the UK and Ireland, in the past 14 days, won't be allowed to enter the US.

See this post for any question you may have about the technicalities, because there are quite a few details to be aware of.

What does this mean for airlines?

Airlines continue to be allowed to operate flights to & from Europe, but expect huge schedule reductions, since only Americans will be allowed to take those flights (and we could see reciprocity, so it's possible no one will be able to take the flights).

Airlines have handled this in various ways. For example, Delta has announced they're cutting all flights to continental Europe, while American and United are maintaining some flights to Europe.

Aid coming for the airline & cruise industry

It has also been announced that we can expect some aid for both the airline and cruise industry in the coming days. The government has already hinted at what aid could look like for airlines, as we may see airlines be allowed to keep the federal excise tax and/or passenger facility charge for some amount of time.

Domestic travel restrictions may be next

Given that some parts of the US are experiencing more cases of coronavirus than others, it's also possible that domestic travel restrictions could be added, similar to the current international ones.

Trump was asked whether the ban could be expanded to certain domestic flights, and he said that they are working on that, and that they are considering adding restrictions on flights within the US as well. California and Washington have been thrown out as possibilities.

Bottom line

Ugh...

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