The Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has announced plans to waive COVID-19 testing requirements for fully vaccinated passengers entering England come February 11.
In a message to British Airways’ (BA) trade partners, the airline’s Chairman/CEO, Sean Doyle said, “Today’s announcement provides a welcome boost to the travel industry and UK economy.”
According to the CEO, the UK government’s announcement will boost customer confidence to travel, as those among them who are fully vaccinated will no longer be subjected to delays and additional cost owing to the Day-2 arrivals test.
Meanwhile, pre-departure testing and Day-2 PCR testing remain compulsory for passengers who are not yet fully vaccinated. Also, the requirement for a Day-8 PCR test will be abolished come February 11. Despite the scrapping of the Day-2 test, all passengers arriving England will still be expected to complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF).
In line with the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) views that quarantine and PCR testing make travel cumbersome for travelers, a number of European countries have been replacing these with vaccination.
For several months now, the UK government has been making widespread modifications to its travel restrictions, removing countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and others from its red list.
