America eases travel ban for fully vaccinated British tourists TODAY

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America has finally reopened its borders to fully vaccinated UK travellers today, as thousands jet off to reunite with family and friends for the first time in 20 months.

Rival airlines British Airways and Virgin Atlantic operated synchronised departures at 8.30am from London Heathrow to New York JFK to celebrate the end of the travel ban imposed by Donald Trump in March last year as Covid spread across the planet. 

The Empire State Building will be lit up in red, white and blue to welcome back Britons to the US, while the BA and Virgin flights will be greeted by New York’s governor Kathy Hochul just after 11am local time. 

Under rules first announced by President Joe Biden in September, fully vaccinated visitors from countries including the UK, Ireland, China, India and South Africa will be allowed to enter America. They must also provide proof of either a negative test taken no more than three days before travel, or that they have recovered from Covid in the previous three months.

The easing will see thousands of people reunite with loved ones in the US for the first time in more than 600 days. Bhavna Patel from South London, who is flying to New York today to meet her first grandchild, said she was so excited she couldn’t sleep and added: ‘I think we might just start crying.’ Alison Henry, who is flying to see her son in New York, said: ‘It’s been so hard, I just want to see my son.’  

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it was a ‘significant moment’ as transatlantic travel has ‘long been at the heart of UK aviation’. He added that the ‘vitally important’ UK-US flights routes boost the economy, create British jobs and help develop plans to reduce carbon emissions from flying. 

Industry leaders expect the easing of restrictions to provide a significant boost for the travel sector which has been hammered by the virus crisis, but have warned of massive queues at airports all throughout November due to an ‘onslaught of travel all at once’. 

Speaking to MailOnline today, Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency, praised the relaxation as ‘the pivotal moment when travel out of the UK is far closer to normality’.

But with 49 per cent fewer flights scheduled this November than there were in the same month in 2019, he urged governments to continue ‘winding back restrictions and make it easier for consumers to travel without a myriad of online forms and tests’.  

He said: ‘The transatlantic air corridor was one of the top three busiest routes in the world and today marks a giant leap back towards levels of travel pre-pandemic. But statistics from data analysts Cirium show that, despite the US borders re-opening, there are still 49 per cent fewer flights scheduled this November than there were in the same month in 2019.

‘Global travel is back to some 60 per cent of what it was Pre-Covid so there is still a long way to go before the sector is firing on all cylinders.’

Airlines have ramped up UK-US flight schedules to meet the increased demand for travel. A total of 3,688 flights are scheduled to operate between the countries this month, according to travel data firm Cirium – which is up 2 per cent compared with October, but down 49 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.

A survey of 2,000 UK consumers commissioned by travel trade organisation Abta suggested that the US is only behind Spain in the foreign destinations that holidaymakers say they plan to visit.  

Around 3.8million Britons visited the US every year prior to the pandemic, according to the Foreign Office. 

British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle said the reopening of the US borders was a ‘moment to celebrate’ after ‘more than 600 days of separation’.

He went on: ‘Transatlantic connectivity is vital for the UK’s economic recovery, which is why we’ve been calling for the safe reopening of the UK-US travel corridor for such a long time. We must now look forward with optimism, get trade and tourism back on track and allow friends and families to connect once again.’ 

His counterpart at Virgin Atlantic, Shai Weiss, hailed the resumption of flights to the US as a ‘day of celebration’.

Speaking at Heathrow, he said: ‘It’s been 600 days that the US border has been shut down for UK nationals.

‘To see passengers coming in early in the morning, grandparents going to see grandchildren they’ve never met, families reuniting, people going to care for elderly people and businesses reconnecting is really a day of celebration for all of us in the industry and, of course, for Virgin Atlantic.’

He called the transatlantic route ‘one of the most important in the world’, adding: ‘For us at Virgin Atlantic, we say it wouldn’t be Virgin without the Atlantic.’

Mr Weiss also called the synchronised departure from Heathrow to New York a ‘remarkable achievement’. He said it showed that ‘when there is a bigger problem than the competition for the two airlines, we can unite to benefit the public, consumers and businesses.’ 

Hotel prices in New York are also returning to normal levels after a summer where discounts abounded, with Tim Hentschel, HotelPlanner’s co-founder and CEO, telling The Guardian: ‘The pent-up demand from overseas to visit the US will remain strong for at least several years.’ 

And Hilton recorded a 63 per cent surge in bookings for its US hotels among Europeans in the five weeks following President Biden’s announcement. 

Simon Vincent, EVP & President of, Europe, Middle East & Africa for Hilton, said: ‘Since news broke of the planned reopening of US borders, we’ve seen a surge of interest from European and UK guests planning to visit our US hotels. 

‘Hilton search data reveals the extent of that demand, with a 63 per cent increase in digital reservations in the five weeks following the news of plans to ease restrictions. We’ve seen similar trends across Europe, with inbound demand from US guests growing as travel rules have lifted. 

‘The reopening of the US border signals the next important phase of recovery for the industry, and we look forward to welcoming a new dawn of international travel.’ 

Speaking at Heathrow Airport, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Robert Courts, called the resumption of flights to the US ‘momentous’.  

He said: ‘This is a massive moment for the aviation sector as we look to build back better from the terrible blow of coronavirus pandemic. It’s about people fundamentally, it’s about getting families back together. That’s particularly important with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up.

‘That’s on top of the massive economic benefit that there is from having the United States and Great Britain – these great friends and allies, countries that have so much in common – back in regular contact with each other again.’

Mr Courts added that the Government wants to see ‘guilt-free flying’.

‘There’s a real desire out there for the public to be able to travel in a way that is green. That is very much what we’re delivering,’ the official went on.

‘We have aircraft around today that are much more efficient and much less polluting than those that were around decades ago and in doing things like investing £180million of sustainable aviation fuels, what we’re doing is delivering the next generation of flying that means the world is interconnected, that people can see each other, that there can be investment and businesses can grow and to do so in a way that also protects the environment.

‘What we want to see is guilt-free flying.’

The White House’s assistant press secretary, Kevin Munoz, confirmed on October 15 that double vaccinated foreign nationals would be able to visit the US from November 8.

The new rules will apply to all individuals that have received vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and vaccines Listed for Emergency Use by the World Health Organisation.  

Washington has not yet commented on Europe’s recent Covid case increase. 

The WHO has expressed ‘grave concern’ over the rising pace of infections in Europe, warning the current trajectory could mean ‘another half a million Covid-19 deaths’ by February.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Sunday on ABC he’s ‘cautiously optimistic about where we are,’ while adding: ‘We can’t take our foot off the accelerator until we’re at the finish line.’