The rise of cases due to the new variant, Omicron, has negatively affected the travelling sector.
FREMONT, CA:A travel industry-led campaign to restore restriction-free travel for vaccinated passengers seems to be gaining traction. The UK government's decision to remove the requirement for post-arrival lateral flow tests for arriving travelers from 11 February, 2022, is the most recent example of this. Nonetheless, due to the wave of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the virus in Europe, short-term trends in capacity and bookings remain negative. In the week of January 24, 2022, Europe's seat numbers were 40.5 percent lower than they were in 2019. This is down 21.8 percentage points from four weeks earlier, keeping Europe in last place in the regional capacity recovery rankings. Africa's capacity is down 34.7 percent, Asia Pacific's is down 32.1 percent, the Middle East's is down 30.8 percent, and Latin America's capacity is down 30.7 percent and North America by 13.9 percent.
Furthermore, according to IATA data, bookings in European domestic and international markets fell from November to December 2021. Europe has more cases per million than the rest of the globe, but this looks to have peaked in the United Kingdom, with the rest of Europe poised to follow suit. The result could be a broader relaxation of travel restrictions.
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Increased international travel restrictions according to IATA, was a predicted reaction to the COVID-19 Omicron variant. There is no evident link between COVID case numbers and international travel limitations, according to the report. However, there is an unmistakable link between travel limits and aviation demand. The capacity recovery in Europe, which had already slowed, has now been on a downward trend for six weeks. As of December 6, 2021, seat counts in Europe were 29.7% lower than in 2019, this reflects a 5.1-point drop

