Gatwick flight leaves almost empty amid fears Covid rules could be ‘fatal’ for travel industry
A flight from Gatwick to Spain leaves virtually empty after the government announced new travel restrictions to allay the spread of the Omicron Covid variant.
The easyJet service to Alicante had between 40 and 50 people onboard yesterday morning amid dire warnings about the impact of the reimposed precautions on the ‘devastated’ travel industry.
The government announced at the weekend that travellers aged 12 and above will need to show a negative PCR or lateral flow test taken in the 48 hours before arriving in the UK.
The rule – which comes after 11 African countries were placed on the reactivated red list – takes effect at 4am tomorrow (Tuesday).
Kevin Gibbons, 39, an ex pat from the UK who lives in Spain, took the pictures onboard EZY8661. He said: ‘My flight home had no more than 50 people on board, it felt like December 2020 all over again.’
The frequent flyer told Metro.co.uk that the UK government has been slow to act on vaccination checks for travellers.
He said: ‘In Spain they are very strict, when I left last Wednesday they checked all my documents and carried out random authentication checks on the documents.
‘I then got on a flight with 200 people and was sat next to a lady who must have had Covid, she was bright red and was coughing and sweating.
‘There was no UK requirement to be Covid tested before flights at that point, unless you had not been vaccinated, but the government knew people who had been double jabbed could still get the virus.
‘Thanks to the coughing lady, I’ve now been pinged by NHS Test and Trace.
‘The government should have acted much sooner to make testing a requirement before boarding flights.’
Nigeria, which has been linked to 21 Omicron cases in England, is the latest country to be placed on the red list, taking effect from 4am today.
Arrivals must quarantine in a managed hotel for 10 days at a cost of £2,285 per adult, as well as receiving two negative PCR tests.
Sarafa Tunji Isola, Nigeria’s high commissioner to London, said today that the international restrictions were borne out of a ‘panicky’ response and amounted to ‘travel apartheid’.
The latest moves to guard against the spread of Omicron attracted stark warnings from within the travel industry.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of Advantage Travel Partnership, said the measures are ‘a fatal bullet for many travel agents’.
ABTA, the UK association of travel agents and tour operators, said: ‘The re-introduction of pre-departure tests will be a huge blow to travellers and an already devastated travel industry, which has been the hardest hit sector throughout the crisis and which is now fast approaching the key booking season for next summer.
‘While we have always been clear that public health must be the priority at this time, the government must now step up to save jobs and businesses.’
A Gatwick Airport spokesperson told Metro.co.uk that the government needs to provide ‘vital’ support to the recovering aviation sector.
The representative said: ‘Whilst we do understand the need for measures to stop the spread of the new Omicron variant until more scientific information on its level of harm is available, it is vital these are kept under constant review and are in place no longer than absolutely necessary.
‘The requirement for a pre-arrival Covid test will likely have an immediate impact on some people’s current travel plans over the holiday period and given the extra cost and complexity we know such travel rules bring for many these measures may deter some people from making bookings.
‘As the industry was only just beginning to see signs of recovery in the build up to Christmas it is also vital that government looks to provide further financial support for aviation while these additional measures are in place to continue to protect jobs.’
Announcing the restrictions at the weekend, transport secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘Following developments in the past week, the science shows that we must be cautious in guarding against this new variant and so, while we appreciate this will be difficult for the travel sector, it’s important we prioritise public health.
‘As we learn more about the Omicron variant, we will review these temporary measures to ensure they continue to be proportionate and necessary to protect public health.’
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