The Business Travel Association (BTA) has written to home secretary Priti Patel and transport secretary Grant Shapps detailing a pilot "travel corridor" scheme it says could serve as a "safe, secure alternative" to the UK’s blanket quarantine measures, introduced on Monday (8 June).

The scheme calls for "on-the-spot" Covid antigen (PCR) testing for business travellers arriving in, or returning to, the UK from the sector’s three most in-demand short-haul destinations – Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

According to the BTA, the pilot would offer a "clear and tested route" to allow government to ease quarantine restrictions for business and leisure travellers.

“This pilot can restore confidence across the business community that there is a practical, safe and immediate alternative to the stranglehold of quarantine," said BTA chief executive Clive Wratten.

"Business travel contributes £600 million a day to UK GDP. It’s vital we make this possible now and re-ignite the British economy. Without this scheme, and under current quarantine measures, tens of thousands of jobs across the business travel supply chain are at risk of being lost forever.”

The BTA’s proposals would require travellers entering the UK to book a test in advance of their arrival; they would be met at the airport, take a PCR test, and receive the results within an hour, potentially preventing carriers from spreading infection en route to their final destination.

The plan outlined by the BTA and its members could be quickly implemented if the government works closely with industry leaders from across the sector," the BTA added. "They stand poised to get Britain travelling safely again."