Flight disappointment: ‘EU wants to ban non-essential passengers from US’

In the United States, the number of infections and hospital admissions has increased in recent weeks, partly due to the delta variant of the corona virus. In addition to the United States, Kosovo, Israel, Montenegro, Lebanon and northern Macedonia will be removed from the list.

Although the list is not bound, even if member states are allowed to withdraw from it, this usually does not happen. The ban on U.S. tourists would be a major setback for KLM and other European and American airlines, which are losing so much business in the Atlantic store.

Although the United States does not allow European tourists, Europeans have been welcomed back into the EU since the beginning of this summer. For a long time, the EU pursued a policy of reciprocity, but Americans were re-admitted under pressure from the tourism industry, especially in southern Europe.

Now that the tourism peak is coming to an end, the impact of the loss of American tourists will be very small. Even the well-known tourist destinations of Greece and Croatia have not objected to the revision of this list.

The official announcement is expected later today. (Update 18:30: It is now official)