Starting from February 11, all arrivals in the UK don’t require any COVID-19 related testing if fully-vaccinated, thereby increasing the possibility for a strong surge in UAE-UK traffic. A full recovery for the airline industry, however, will be possible only when more countries waive off the testing needs.

“The simplification of travel rules comes just before-half term, providing welcome news for families looking to travel abroad during the school holidays, as well as an extra boost for the tourism industry,” the UK government said on its website. “Thanks to the success of the UK’s vaccine and booster rollout, the government is now able to reduce the number of travel restrictions, ensuring there is a more proportionate system in place for passengers.”

From February 11, UK airports arrivals will require only a ‘passenger locator form’. Travellers who are not fully-vaccinated will only require a pre-departure test and a PCR test on or before day 2 after arriving in UK. With this decision the average family will be able to save around Dh500 (100 pounds) on their travel to Britain, noted the UK government. The expensive PCR tests in UK had led to lot of resistance from frequent travellers and also major aviation bodies, which argued that this is further hitting air travel demand.

“This is clearly a welcome development although we have to wait until mid-February, and people travelling back now will be thinking why bother taking a test given the forthcoming change,” said John Grant, Partner at Midas Aviation. “It may result in a bit more leisure traffic back and forth.”

“I suspect that it will have little or no impact on the important connecting markets unless other countries change their requirements as well,” said Grant. “UK was amongst those countries that had already begun reopening before Omicron and we all need others to follow.”

The UK’s early decision of open travel may be responsible for bringing the Dubai-London route operational again. This was the third busiest air route in January with about 247,000 seats, according to OAG, an aviation consultancy.

Flights from Dubai to London at present cost between Dh1,000-Dh1,500, around the same range as December which is the traditional busy travel period. From Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways is offering direct flights from Dh1,300.

“For airlines, the UK Governments' decision can be one of the major additional lifelines during these challenging and uncertain times with the emerging Omicron variant,” said Linus Benjamin Bauer, Managing Director of Bauer Aviation Advisory.

The UAE carriers have significantly increased their capacity. Travel sources reveal Emirates airline was operating daily about six to seven flights to London Heathrow by late 2021. Emirates has also restarted flights to London Gatwick Airport (LGW). It had earlier announced of offering 84 weekly flights by December end to the UK. 

SOURCE - Gulf News

LINK - https://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/uk-removes-all-covid-19-testing-for-arrivals-but-more-countries-need-to-do-the-same-to-help-airline-industry-1.1643948228300