Oct. 25, 2021
NBAA welcomed revised policies from the White House, which provided new details on COVID-19-related entry requirements to facilitate safe international travel.
Starting Nov. 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated, and to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane, with only limited exceptions. The updated travel guidelines also include new protocols around testing and contact tracing.
Fully vaccinated U.S. citizens must produce a negative viral test result within three days of travel to the U.S.
Unvaccinated travelers – whether U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents or the small number of excepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to produce a negative test result taken within one day of departure.
Previously, all travelers were required to produce a negative viral test result within three days of travel to the U.S.
There are some exceptions to the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals, including those with medical contraindications to the vaccines, those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons, those with non-tourist visas from countries with low vaccine availability and other narrow categories.
Children under 18 are also excepted from the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals. However, children between the ages of 2 and 17 must receive a negative test result taken within three days of departure, if traveling with fully vaccinated adults, or within one day of departure if traveling with unvaccinated adults or alone.
Further, the list of acceptable vaccines will be expanded to include not only FDA-approved or authorized vaccines, but also World Health Organization emergency-use listed vaccines.
All operators flying into the U.S. must retain contact information to allow public health officials to follow up with inbound travelers who are potentially infected or have been exposed to someone who is infected.
Senior administration officials said these protocols will ensure the safety of international air travel and are guided by public health information. These new requirements will reduce risk of infection through vaccination and layered risk mitigation measures, including testing and thorough contact tracing, officials said.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.