The Financial Times yesterday reported UK officials as saying that talks between the UK and the US regarding a UK-US air corridor are increasingly unlikely to be concluded by the end of July, and should be expected to continue into August or even September.

British officials had hoped to be able to reach an agreement on reopening travel between the UK and the US by 4 July.

Causes cited for the talks dragging on include ride of Delta variant COVID-19 cases in the UK, "complexities" of US politics, and uncertainty regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine (which a Cambridge University study published this week found is significantly less effective than the Pfizer vaccine against the Delta variant). The AstaZeneva vaccine is approved for use in the UK but not in the US.

A working group has been established "to help relaunch UK-U.S. travel as soon as possible."