Travel restrictions: Europeans are flying back to the US

There is an almost exhilarated atmosphere at gate Z54 at Frankfurt Airport. Lufthansa flight LH400 to New York is ready to take off this morning. The flight attendants hand out small US flags and glossy postcards.

“I’m so happy that it’s finally getting started,” says 23-year-old Hannes Joos, who wants to visit his uncle in New York with a friend. A week’s vacation and family visit – that was impossible for most Europeans for almost 20 months because the USA had closed its borders to EU foreigners to ward off the pandemic.

Travel restrictions for more than a year and a half

For more than a year and a half, travel restrictions kept families, lovers and friends apart. Suddenly, business people could no longer easily travel to the United States. Tourists were denied destinations. The extensive entry ban increasingly strained relations between the USA and its European partners such as Germany. The EU had already asked the member states in June to gradually lift restrictions on travelers from the USA. Germany then allowed entry again, expressly also for US vacationers, while the Americans took their time in the opposite direction until November 8th.

“We urgently need to go to New York because we want to set up a branch there,” said a delegation from the Italian trade fair company Bologna at the gate. “You just can’t do that remotely.” A few rows down there are two engineers from the mechanical engineering company Bültmann from the Sauerland, waiting for their flight to Detroit to expand a customer’s machines there. “We were able to fly before that, but there was a lot of bureaucracy,” says one of the men. Like everyone else, they are vaccinated and freshly tested. Entry requirements are strictly and repeatedly checked.

Occupancy as in 2019

“For the coming weeks we will have a capacity utilization like in 2019”, exults Lufthansa manager Klaus Froese. His company alone flies 160 connections a week from Frankfurt and Munich to 19 US destinations in the winter flight schedule – an enormous increase after 30 connections in the summer when only US citizens, diplomats and people with special permits were allowed to travel. Due to the strong demand, the traditional New York flight will be equipped with a Boeing jumbo again in three days. It has around 150 seats more than the Airbus A340 and is the Group’s largest aircraft after the A380 has been retired.

The friends Sarah Borchardt and Karin Deges have already postponed their trip to the USA twice because of the entry restrictions. So they are all the more pleased that Singapore Airlines can finally take off, which also flies from Frankfurt to New York. “We are totally happy now to be on the first plane and finally to be able to go over there,” says Borchardt. What are the two hoping for from their vacation? “Simply to spend time together, to enjoy the city, the beautiful weather, the people, just enjoy and soak up everything,” reports Deges. The two have no concerns on their first flight since the pandemic began. “Precautions have been taken, we are vaccinated, we behave accordingly, wear a mask, we don’t have to worry about that,” says Borchardt.

Despite the increasing number of infections, it is a moment to return to normal. “We are vaccinated and already have the booster,” reports the New York couple Steve and Danuta Wright, who have just returned from a Mediterranean cruise. “We want to travel as much as possible while we can still do it so well,” says 69-year-old Steve. “We take Covid seriously, but we don’t want to live in fear.”