A new experiment was unveiled on 7 July at United Kingdom. The airport of London Heathrow, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are working together on a fast-track system reserved for vaccinated travellers. The test will start this week and will apply to travellers landing at the London hub from countries on the "amber list". For the time being, only four airports These include New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Montego Bay and Athens. Business travel customers are being particularly targeted, as the people in charge of the project point out: " Routes such as Los Angeles-LAX and...
A new experiment was unveiled on 7 July at United Kingdom. The airport of London Heathrow, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are working together on a fast-track system reserved for vaccinated travellers. The test will start this week and will apply to travellers landing at the London hub from countries on the "amber list". For the time being, only four airports These include New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Montego Bay and Athens. Business travel customers are being particularly targeted, as the people in charge of the project point out: " Routes such as Los Angeles-LAX and New York-JFK were chosen because transatlantic air links between the United States and the United Kingdom are essential for boosting business, reuniting families and enabling people to go on holiday. ".
The test will be voluntary and will use anonymised data. On arrival at London Heathrow, passengers will present their Covid-19 certificate - in digital or paper format. Internationally recognised vaccination certificates will be accepted, including the NHS application, the CDC card, the digital certification introduced in the United States and, of course, the European Union's digital certificate. In addition, British Airways will be verifying customers' vaccinations via the VeriFLY application. The same goes for Virgin Atlantic, with the TrustAssure technology developed in partnership with Delta. And the three partners are already planning to add other standards to this list, with the IATA Travel Pass already on the table.
reassuring the government
The three heavyweights of the British business travel industry are clearly impatient with the UK's backwardness when it comes to health checks. And they intend to show the government the way. A government that has been slammed by the heads of British Airways and Virgina Atlantic. " Despite the incredible success [of the vaccine], the UK is failing to reap the economic and social benefits, falling behind countries such as France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta, which accept all fully vaccinated travellers, including US residents, without the need to quarantine them. "say those in charge of the project. They now intend to " reassure the government that airlines and airports can check vaccination status beforehand (...), to avoid any additional pressure in British immigration halls" .
The UK is already lagging behind the United States and the European Union
" The UK already lags behind the US and the EU, and continuing with an overly cautious approach to international travel will have a further impact on the economic recovery and the 500,000 UK jobs that are at stake "warns Shai Weiss. The CEO of Virgin Atlantic adds: " the British government must act now to abolish theself-isolation for fully vaccinated passengers arriving from "amber" countries, and at the latest when domestic flights reopen on 19 July. Our trial on some US and Caribbean routes demonstrates that our industry is ready to implement the new policy quickly and to work with the Government and the authorities to ensure that it is implemented smoothly and at a sustained pace to support the reopening of the transatlantic corridor, without which the UK economy loses £23 million every day. ".
Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways, agrees: " We already help our customers provide proof of their vaccination status when travelling to a number of countries outside the UK that require it, and we're confident we can do the same for entry into the UK, very quickly. We're looking forward to providing the data that proves it's simple to check the status of a fully vaccinated person and enable the Government to meet its commitment to get the country moving again. "
Business travellers, and in particular United States are particularly targeted by the approach, as confirmed by the boss of Heathrow: " The British government must make progress in reopening travel with the United States, (...) the only country with which the UK has a trade surplus "says John Holland-Kaye.
