President Donald Trump’s 30-day ban on most Europeans entering the United States is the latest calamity for a global travel industry already reeling from falling bookings and canceled reservations as people try to avoid contracting and spreading the coronavirus.
The ban, announced Wednesday and set to begin at midnight Friday, won’t apply to Americans trying to return home — though they will be subject to “enhanced” health screening — or to citizens of the United Kingdom.
But coming on top of similar restrictions imposed by many other governments, Trump’s move is bound to drastically escalate the upheaval facing global airlines and travelers on some of the most heavily traveled routes.
The disruptions to air travel are rippling through economies in a blow to hotels, car rental companies, museums and restaurants.
Lucrative business travel was already down sharply because conferences have been canceled and companies have instructed employees to skip all but essential trips. And travel from and within Asia has been restricted for weeks as authorities try to stop the spread of the virus there.
Airlines scrambled Thursday to adjust to the new restrictions, with many telling customers they were still assessing options and asking for patience from those trying to contact them.
French retirees Jean-Michel and Christiane Deaux were among those weighing their options. They had spent months planning a 3,500-kilometer (2,200-mile) road trip across America and planned to fly to New Orleans later this month. Now they’re trying to reschedule for later in the year.
“When I heard this morning, I was very disappointed but not surprised,” Jean-Michel Deaux said. “All the preparations, ruined.”
There are usually about 400 flights a day from Europe to the United States, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Airlines have already been slashing their flight schedules, especially on international routes, to cope with a sharp decline in travel demand among fearful customers.
About 72.4 million passengers flew from the U.S. to Europe in the year ended last June, making it the most popular international destination, according to Transportation Department figures. About one-third of those passengers fly on U.S. airlines, the rest on foreign carriers. Trump didn’t mention restrictions on Americans traveling to Europe.
Even before Trump’s announcement, the International Airline Travelers Association was forecasting a 24% fall in Europe’s passenger traffic this year and $37 billion in lost potential ticket sales. Italy, which is all but closed off as authorities try to control the spread of the virus there, has been particularly hard hit.
In his address from the Oval Office, Trump said U.S. restrictions on people coming from China and other countries with early outbreaks of COVID-19 had held down the number of cases in the United States compared with Europe. He blamed the European Union for failing to immediately stop travel from China “and other hot spots,” which he said had led to clusters of outbreaks in the U.S being “seeded by travelers from Europe.”
The new U.S. restrictions apply to most foreign nationals who have been in the 26-nation Schengen area of Europe in the 14 days before their scheduled arrival in the United States. The Schengen countries, which do not restrict travel among each other, include Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday labeled COVID-19 a pandemic, citing its alarming spread and severity. Some experts have raised doubts over the effectiveness of tight border controls now that it has spread to so many countries.
In Asia, where the virus was first reported, governments have been imposing various restrictions on arrivals, requirements for health certificates and other precautions for more than a month.
An industry trade group warned that airlines worldwide could lose up to $113 billion in revenue from the virus — several times the damage caused by the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S. Since mid-February, shares of American Airlines have dropped by nearly half, United Airlines by more than one-third, and Delta Air Lines more than one-fourth.
It isn’t just U.S. airlines feeling the pain. Germany’s Lufthansa plans to cut up to half its flights because of a “drastic” drop in bookings. Cathay Pacific Airways warned Wednesday that it faces a “substantial loss” in the first half of this year. The Hong Kong-based airline canceled 90% of its flight capacity to the mainland at the start of February after Beijing told the public to avoid travel as part of efforts to contain the outbreak centered on the city of Wuhan.
Airlines, hotels and other travel businesses in East Asia already suffered a painful blow in January when demand plunged after China canceled group tours, told businesspeople to avoid foreign trips and imposed restrictions on foreign visitors.
China is the No. 1 source of foreign tourists for Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries and a growing source of business travel. Airlines canceled thousands of flights. Hotels and other businesses closed.
With air travel and airline revenue plummeting, airlines are losing their appetite for new planes. On Wednesday, Boeing’s stock fell 18% — its biggest one-day percentage drop since 1974 — and the iconic airplane manufacturer announced a hiring freeze.
In China, more than three-fourths of virus patients have recovered and most suffered only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. The illness can be severe and lead to pneumonia, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems.
More than 126,000 people in more than 110 countries have been infected. But the World Health Organization has emphasized the vast majority are in just four countries: China and South Korea, where new cases are declining, and Iran and Italy, where they are not.
Trump’s Homeland Security secretary acknowledged that the ban will further upend the airline industry.
“While these new travel restrictions will be disruptive to some travelers, this decisive action is needed to protect the American public from further exposure to the potentially deadly coronavirus,” DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement issued shortly after the president’s address.
Nicholas Calio, president of Airlines for America, a trade group for many large U.S. carriers, said the ban “will hit U.S. airlines, their employees, travelers and the shipping public extremely hard. However, we respect the need to take this unprecedented action.”
Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst in San Francisco, said the ban will push airlines including American, Delta and United to reduce flights between the U.S. and Europe, and will cast a long shadow over the peak summer travel season.
“This is going to cause a lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic to reconsider where they are going to spend their summer vacation,” he said. “Leisure travelers will stay close to home,” while people traveling on business will be grounded by corporate restrictions, he said.
In January, the U.S. issued a similar ban on people coming into the country from China. That policy was later extended to people who had been in Iran.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — Ron DeSantis announced Friday the appointment of Alex Peraza to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, which serves Miami-Dade County.
Peraza, of Coral Gables, is a partner at Diamond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A., a law firm based in South Florida.
The Judicial Nominating Commission is responsible for reviewing and recommending qualified candidates for judicial appointments within the circuit.
Peraza earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and his juris doctor from the University of Florida. His appointment term will run through July 1, 2027.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — A Florida Senate committee on Monday advanced SB 1758, legislation that would impose Medicaid work reporting requirements in a state that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Advocates say the proposal would push thousands of low-income Floridians into the state’s existing coverage gap and create new administrative barriers for people with serious illnesses.
The bill goes beyond the recently passed federal measure, H.R. 1 — known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which exempts non-expansion states from federal Medicaid work reporting requirements. Critics argue Florida lawmakers are moving forward despite that exemption.
Bill Would Add Work Reporting and “Deathbed Exemption”
SB 1758 would require certain Medicaid recipients to document at least 80 hours per month of work or qualifying activities to maintain coverage. The bill includes exemptions, including a recently added provision that would exempt terminally ill parents only if they can prove a life expectancy of six months or less.
Sadaf Knight, CEO of Florida Policy Institute, said the amendment would require a single mother who is terminally ill and earning less than $8,000 a year to meet monthly work reporting requirements unless she can demonstrate a six-month prognosis.
“It is hard to grasp how we arrived at a policy that effectively asks someone facing the end of their life to prove they are dying quickly enough to keep their Medicaid,” Knight said.
Opponents say the proposal would increase administrative costs while stripping coverage from residents who are already working or unable to work due to caregiving responsibilities or medical conditions.
Advocates Warn of Coverage Gap, Legal and Fiscal Risks
Florida is one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid, leaving an estimated 260,000 residents in the coverage gap — earning too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but too little to receive federal marketplace subsidies.
More than two dozen organizations signed a letter urging members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to reject the bill. Signatories include the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Southern Poverty Law Center, UnidosUS, The AIDS Institute, Florida Policy Institute, Florida Voices for Health and 1199SEIU.
Melanie Williams of Florida Health Justice Project called the bill “fiscally reckless,” noting that the state has already spent $1 million defending wrongful Medicaid terminations in federal court and that the Department of Children and Families has reported budget constraints in addressing court-mandated changes.
Rachel Klein of The AIDS Institute said federal law prohibits non-expansion states from implementing Medicaid work requirements and warned the measure could face legal challenges. Others argued the costs of building a new reporting system would outweigh any potential savings.
Advocates say the Legislature should focus instead on expanding access to affordable coverage amid rising health care costs and expiring enhanced premium tax credits.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — Senator LaVon Bracy Davis and Representative Mitch Rosenwald have filed legislation aimed at expanding access to the My Safe Florida Home Program by allowing homeowners to reapply when applications were previously deemed abandoned or withdrawn due to errors or omissions.
The measure, SB 1148/HB 1045, would modify program rules to permit subsequent applications when the original filing was rejected because of compliance-related mistakes, provided there is good cause and the applicant corrects the issue in a timely manner.
Expanding Access to Homeowner Assistance The My Safe Florida Home Program is a state initiative that provides eligible Florida homeowners with inspections and grant funding to help strengthen their homes against storms while reducing insurance costs. The program is administered by the Florida Department of Financial Services.
Current rules allow for reapplication if an application was denied or withdrawn due to errors or omissions. However, the proposed legislation would also allow reapplication when an application was deemed abandoned or withdrawn because of similar compliance-related issues.
Addressing Bureaucratic Barriers “At a time when Florida’s families are struggling with rising insurance costs, we cannot allow bureaucratic technicalities to block access to affordability tools,” said Bracy Davis, a Democrat from Ocoee.
The bill responds to concerns from homeowners who were unable to submit a new application after their original submission was closed due to misunderstandings or reasonable mistakes regarding program requirements.
Focus on Seniors and Low-Income Homeowners Rosenwald, a Democrat from Oakland Park, said the legislation is intended to help vulnerable homeowners who rely on the program for financial relief.
“This program can be a lifeline for seniors and low-income homeowners,” Rosenwald said. “In response to Floridians reporting that they were blocked from submitting a new application because of a misunderstanding or reasonable mistake concerning program compliance, I filed this glitch bill.”
If approved, the legislation would ensure more homeowners have access to financial assistance aimed at strengthening homes and improving insurance affordability across Florida.
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