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At 8.16am on Friday, an Airbus A319 belonging to TAP Portugal pushed again from Terminal 2 at London Heathrow. It was the ultimate flight between the UK and Portugal till additional discover.
The aircraft to the northern metropolis of Porto had flown to the UK on Thursday night, hours earlier than an unprecedented journey ban got here into power.
Portugal, which in a traditional yr is visited by 2.5 million British holidaymakers, is topic to an indefinite flight ban. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, launched it as a consequence of issues in regards to the so-called Brazilian variant of coronavirus – and Portugal’s “strong links” with South America’s largest nation.
TAP Portugal mentioned: “No flights from Lisbon or Porto to the United Kingdom will operate until further notice.”
Abta, the journey affiliation, warned that passengers mustn’t assume that their flight is working usually.
Its spokesperson, Sean Tipton, mentioned: “Check with the airline. They will bring people home, but if your flight is in two or three weeks’ time the airline may say, ‘Actually, you’ve got to come home’.”
Britain’s largest funds airline, easyJet, has grounded flights between London Gatwick and Portugal’s important vacation airport, Faro, till 11 February.
Shortly after the flight ban took impact, easyJet Holidays cancelled all packages as much as and together with 24 March 2021. The deliberate re-start has been moved from 1 March to 25 March – the identical date because the UK’s second-biggest vacation firm, Jet2, hopes to renew operations.
The firm blamed “ongoing restrictions on international travel as a result of the current lockdown”. All prospects whose journeys are cancelled are entitled to a full refund.
Its buyer director, Matt Callaghan, mentioned: “We know there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine.”
While the prohibition on anybody travelling on to the UK additionally extends to the entire of South America plus Panama and Cape Verde, there aren’t any flights scheduled from any of these areas within the close to future.
British Airways was working companies between Sao Paulo in Brazil and Heathrow in December, however on Christmas Day the Brazilian authorities banned all direct flights from London due to fears in regards to the variant recognized within the UK.
The transport secretary made it clear that British and Irish nationals, in addition to third-country everlasting residents of the UK, are exempt from the brand new guidelines on Portugal and the opposite nations.
On the Facebook web page of the British Embassy in Lisbon, Stuart Crossley wrote: “Seems you need to drive back, as I did last week via the ferry at Santander. Very pleasant crossing for the Bay of Biscay in January. Or drive through France, several forms of attestation required, and night time curfew in place, but onward travel to catch a ferry/use Eurotunnel is allowed, tickets could be subject to inspection.”
But Professor Devi Sridhar, chair in Global Public Health on the University of Edinburgh, criticised the best way the measures have been carried out.
“Travel bans only work if screening all passengers coming in,” she said. “People will just connect in a hub to avoid quarantine.”
Anyone planning to reach within the UK after 4am on Monday 18 January should present proof of a unfavorable coronavirus check inside 72 hours of departure. The “test before travel” scheme has been delayed for 3 days due to what the transport secretary mentioned was “simply a matter of practicality”.
It has emerged that the brand new guidelines have an effect on passengers merely altering planes within the UK between two different international locations.
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A British Airways spokesperson mentioned: “Unless exempt, we require all customers on international flights to the UK arriving from 4am on Monday 18 January, 2021 to provide evidence of a negative Lamp, PCR or antigen Covid-19 test taken within three days of their departure.”
Many switch hubs permit passengers who aren’t getting into the nation to attach between flights with out complying with the prevailing nationwide coronavirus guidelines.
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