The UK government has announced
that it will lift the ban on flights from red-list countries from 8 June as
part of a limited trial.
Flights from these countries will
need to arrive at dedicated terminals at Heathrow and Birmingham airports.
The government said, “The requirement for these direct flights to arrive at dedicated facilities will help keep more red list passengers separate from others, helping to ensure they are processed as safely and efficiently as possible and then travel straight to their managed quarantine hotel and reduce queues at the border.”
Heathrow announced earlier this week that terminal 3 would exclusively be used to handle arrivals from red-list countries, although this will eventually move to terminal 4.
Nick Barton, Birmingham Airport’s chief executive said: “Arrivals from red list countries will be handled through a dedicated
terminal. This will safeguard physical separation away from all other arriving
passengers to ensure safety in order to support the Government’s managed
quarantine process for red list passengers.
“Capacity through this dedicated terminal will be
managed by staggering the arrival of red list flights to ensure passenger
segregation. Customers arriving from amber and green list countries will arrive
through a completely separate terminal.
“Working with control authorities and the
Government, significant operational and capacity planning has been
undertaken. Safety mitigations will continue to be managed to protect
customers and airport personnel, through social distancing, enhanced cleaning,
PPE, additional personnel and dedicated passenger routings.
“We have assurance from the Government that the
Border will have sufficient cover to manage these red list flights as well as
those arriving from other destinations into a separate terminal.
“Once processed at the Border, the Government’s
managed quarantine service will transport passengers to dedicated quarantine
hotels.
“Customers do not need to make any changes to their
travel plans but we remind all passengers that they must have
a negative PCR test before returning to the UK and are required to complete
Government documentation.”
The change regarding red-list flights was announced at the
same time as the government announced its three-week review into the traffic-light system, which saw Portugal removed from the list and seven countries
added to the red list. The changes caused dismay in the travel industry who
said the country was now effectively closed.