The United States will open its borders to vaccinated international travelers on Monday after 20 months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The opening of land, air and sea borders and a day of incidents is expected.
"It can be a bit sloppy at first, I can assure you," said the executive director of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian, in statements collected by CNN.
Many of Delta's scheduled flights are fully booked, according to an airline spokesman, Morgan Durrant, who has acknowledged a 450 percent increase in international bookings in the past six weeks.
On Monday alone there is a projected 11 percent increase in international arrivals at New York's Newark and John F. Kennedy airports with a total of 253 flights.
The Customs and Border Protection service has already announced that traffic jams are also expected at the borders with Canada and Mexico , which is why they have asked travelers for "preparation and patience."
The changes are expected to revitalize international travel before the holiday season and respond to complaints from those living in border communities, who criticized the United States imposing different rules on air and ground access.
The new policy will end non-essential travel restrictions that were first enforced in March 2020 , although Americans had no restrictions on returning home.
