Aviation groups have urged the US government to remove the pre-departure testing requirement for fully vaccinated passengers travelling to the country.

In a letter to the White House, the groups including the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Airlines for America (A4A) and travel and tourism groups, said that vaccinated travellers do not bring additional risks to the domestic US population.

It added that increased immunity levels, rising vaccination rates and the presence of Covid-19 in all US states mean the testing requirement can be removed.

Willie Walsh, director general, IATA, said: ¡°The experience of Omicron has made it clear that travel restrictions have little to no impact in terms of preventing its spread. Moreover, as Omicron is already broadly present across the US, fully vaccinated travellers bring no extra risk to the local population.?

¡°International travellers should face no additional screening requirements than what is applied to domestic travel. In fact, at this stage of the pandemic, travel should be managed in the same way as access to shopping malls, restaurants or offices.¡±

The letter also pointed to the 22 per cent of the US population that have had Covid-19, combined with the 74 per cent that is fully vaccinated, as a sign of the country ¡°developing very high levels of population immunity.¡±

It also highlighted European Union recommendations for member states to remove Covid-19 travel restrictions for travel within the EU and the UK¡¯s removal of pre-departure Covid-19 testing for vaccinated air travellers to enter the country.?

Walsh added: ¡°Removing the pre-departure testing requirement for fully vaccinated travellers will greatly support the recovery of travel and aviation in the US and globally without increasing the spread of Covid-19 and its variants in the US population. There is no use in closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.¡±