British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Airport have joined forces on a trial to prove it’s possible to quickly and easily verify those arriving into the UK who are fully vaccinated.
The new UK proving trial, enabling inbound travellers to present their fully vaccinated status, will support the Government to move forward with its plans to remove quarantine for double jabbed passengers entering the UK from ‘amber list’ countries.
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. 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 UK immigration halls.
Those taking part in the trial will be able to use a dedicated arrivals lane at the border. In the case of British Airways customers, they will be able to access a discounted rate for the mandatory arrivals tests.
The following flights will be included in this trial:
British Airways
New York-JFK to London Heathrow
- BA112 Daily, arrives 06:30
- BA182 Daily, arrives 09:40
Athens to London Heathrow
- BA623 Daily, arrives 09:55
- BA629 1 x weekly, arrives 16:20
- BA633 1 x weekly, arrives 21:50
- BA637 4 x weekly, arrives 19:05 or 18:55 or 18:25
- BA639 5 x weekly, arrives 15:25 or 15:30
- BA641 5 x weekly, arrives 17:25 or 17:35
Virgin Atlantic
- VS24 Los Angeles (LAX) to London Heathrow (LHR), operating daily
- VS166 Montego Bay (MBJ) to London Heathrow (LHR), operating twice a week
Accepted Statuses
Internationally recognised vaccination credentials will be accepted in the proving trial including
- the NHS app
- CDC card,
- US state-level digital certification
- 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, the options for customers to show vaccine status will rapidly be expanded, across physical, digital and integrated formats, including IATA Travel Pass.
Vaccination eligibility
Fully vaccinated is classed as 14 days after the customer’s final jab.
The certificate should show the customer’s name, date of birth, dates of vaccination, vaccination type and located where the vaccine were administered.
Vaccination types accepted are WHO approved – Oxford/Astra Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm.
In Quotes
Sean Doyle, British Airways CEO and Chairman said:
“We need to act quickly to protect jobs, re-build 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.”
In the US, more than 157m people have been fully vaccinated – including 58% of US adults – with domestic flying returning to pre-pandemic levels, proving that flying is safe.
Shai Weiss, CEO, Virgin Atlantic 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 19th 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 £23m is lost each day from the UK economy.
“The UK is already falling behind US and EU and a continued overly cautious approach towards international travel will further impact economic recovery and the 500,000 UK jobs that are at stake.”
John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow 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 the 19th 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.”
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