UK. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Airport have launched a trial to verify fully vaccinated travellers arriving to the UK – an identification process already in place for outbound travel to several countries. Earlier this week, Germany became the latest country to confirm it would accept fully vaccinated UK travellers without the need to quarantine.
The new UK proving trial, enabling inbound travellers to present their fully vaccinated status, should support the government to move forward with plans to remove quarantine for vaccinated passengers entering the UK from ‘amber list’ countries, said the airlines and airport.
The initiative will see fully vaccinated volunteers travelling on selected flights from Athens, Los Angeles, Montego Bay and New York to London Heathrow showing proof of their vaccine status from this week. The trial aims to reassure government that airlines and airports can check vaccine status upstream and away from the border, ensuring no further pressure in immigration halls. Those taking part in the trial will be able to use a dedicated arrivals lane at the border and British Airways customers can access a discounted rate for the mandatory arrivals tests.
Internationally recognised vaccination credentials will be accepted in the proving trial including the NHS app, CDC card, US state-level digital certification and EU Digital Covid Credential. British Airways will also support customers’ vaccine verification through the VeriFLY app and Virgin Atlantic customers can verify their vaccine certificate through a new digital uploader tool, developed in partnership with Delta Air Lines and backed by TrustAssure technology.
As the proof-of-concept develops, said the partners, the options for customers to show vaccine status will be expanded, across physical, digital and integrated formats, including IATA Travel Pass.
Despite high levels of vaccination, said the companies, the UK is “falling behind” countries like France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta, all of which accept fully vaccinated travellers, including US residents, without the need for quarantine. The US also allows its fully vaccinated residents to avoid self-isolation.
British Airways CEO and Chairman Sean Doyle said: “We need to act quickly to protect jobs, rebuild the UK economy and reunite loved ones. We are already helping our customers show proof of their vaccination status when travelling to a number of other countries outside the UK which require it, and we’re confident we can make this happen for entry to Britain too, very quickly. We look forward to providing the data that proves it’s simple for fully vaccinated status to be verified and to the government meeting its commitment to get the country moving again.”
Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said: “To reap the benefits of the UK’s world-leading vaccine roll out, the UK government must act now to remove self-isolation for fully vaccinated passengers arriving from ‘amber’ countries, and no later than the domestic reopening on 19 July. Our proof-of-concept trial on selected US and Caribbean routes demonstrates our readiness as an industry to rapidly operationalise the new policy, and work with Government and authorities to ensure it is smoothly implemented at pace, supporting the reopening of the Transatlantic corridor, without which £23 million is lost each day from the UK economy.”
Today, Heathrow Airport also released new research from Centre for Economics & Business Research (CEBR), reinforcing the importance of aviation to the government’s ambitions for ‘Global Britain’. It said aviation could help industry deliver a £204 billion trade boost. Heathrow has warned that this cannot be realised unless the UK’s aviation industry is supported by government policies to resume flying as soon as possible. Heathrow is the UK’s largest port by value, accounting for 21.2% of UK trade in goods by value in 2019.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “This pilot will allow us to show that pre-departure and arrival checks of vaccination status can be carried out safely, so that fully vaccinated passengers can avoid quarantine from 19 July. In addition to this, the UK government must make progress on reopening travel between the US after a designated taskforce was established to look at this back at the G7.
“Heathrow is the main port for trade in goods and services with the US, the only country with whom the UK has a trade surplus. New research today demonstrates just how critical it is to the UK economy to get the passenger planes that carry those exports off the ground. This is a vital step towards delivering the government’s ambitions for Global Britain and they now need to act fast.”
