Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airlines - which operate transatlantic services under a joint venture - will require passengers travelling from the UK to New York to present evidence of a negative Covid test from Thursday 24 December.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said yesterday that the three airlines arriving in the US city from the UK needed to make passengers provide the results in order not to ¡°let history repeat itself¡± with the new virus variant that is causing many countries to ban flights and travellers from the UK. He said all three - BA, Delta and Virgin Atlantic - had agreed to the change.
Governor Cuomo said at a press conference: "The people who now fly into New York will be negative, but we'll have flights into Chicago, we'll have flights into other parts of the country and then those people can get on flights and come back to New York or infect other states.
"This whole notion that any one state can protect itself was foolish from the beginning. New York has one of the lowest infection rates in the United States, but that doesn't stop the virus from coming in from other states."
A Virgin spokeswoman said, ¡°With the health and safety of our customers and people always our number one priority, we will require all travellers to present evidence of a negative LAMP or PCR Covid-19 test, taken up to 72 hours prior to departure, including on-site at the airport.
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¡°Throughout the crisis, Virgin Atlantic has been championing a robust pre-departure passenger testing regime in order to reopen the skies at scale and safely replace border restrictions. In August we were the first UK airline to implement on-site rapid testing for our crew and with our partner Collinson, and we already offer pre-departure rapid testing for customers on several routes including Hong Kong and Barbados.
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¡°This is the latest addition to a range of rigorous, multi-layered health and safety measures to ensure that all customers fly safe and well. We will work closely with our transatlantic partner Delta Air Lines on an aligned customer offering. More information will be provided to customers due to depart from London Heathrow to the US in the coming days, including New York flights. We are in close contact with Governor Cuomo¡¯s office to communicate these plans.¡±