European airlines hail long-awaited North Atlantic reopening

The North Atlantic market will reopen following the US decision to lift the ban on travellers from a number of countries, including the EU and UK. The Biden administration will allow fully vaccinated travellers into the US from early Nov-2021. Quarantine will not be required, but passengers will need to provide proof of vaccination, a negative test and contact information.

The ban has weighed heavily on capacity and traffic. As a percentage of 2019 capacity, the North Atlantic has underperformed versus all Europe since Apr-2020. Moreover, it has been Europe's second weakest passenger traffic region (Europe-Asia has been weaker).

This matters to European airlines: the North Atlantic is their most important intercontinental market.

British Airways and Lufthansa led Europe's airlines by North Atlantic ASKs in 2019. However, smaller airlines - La Compagnie, Virgin Atlantic, Icelandair and Aer Lingus - had the highest percentage of their 2019 ASKs on North Atlantic. IAG had the biggest exposure among Europe's big airline groups.

There are wrinkles to be ironed out, such as exactly which vaccines the US will recognise, but the North Atlantic capacity recovery should surely soon catch up.