First quarantine passengers arrive at UK airport hotels
New border rules include requirement for incoming travellers to take two Covid-19 tests
The first passengers arrived in airport hotels in the UK to begin 10 days of isolation as tough new quarantine measures came into force aimed at limiting the spread of more dangerous coronavirus variants.
The Radisson Blu at London’s Heathrow airport was among hotels to take in a small number of travellers coming from high-risk countries on Monday morning. In England anyone returning from 33 countries must book a £1,750 stay in a government-approved hotel.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said the system had been working well in its first few hours. “It does appear to be going smoothly this morning,” he told Times Radio.
Ministers and the aviation industry expect the majority of passengers arriving from the so-called red-list countries to land at Heathrow, as several big airlines have moved their few remaining flights to the UK hub airport.
Queues in Heathrow’s arrivals halls took less than an hour on Monday morning, but the airport has warned it might have to cancel some inbound flights if Border Force officers struggle to clear immigration lines while the measures remain in force.
In recent weeks, Heathrow has had queues lasting as long as five hours after the e-gates were closed so immigration officers could ensure all passengers had completed the extra paperwork required for entry into the UK during the pandemic.
“Border Force today has reassured us that they have adequate resource and effective processes at the border to avoid compromising the safety of passengers and those working at the airport, which could necessitate the suspension of some arriving flights,” Heathrow said.
Accor, whose Novotel near Heathrow is part of the quarantine scheme, said the few guests who had been in the hotel were leaving on Monday and the site was undergoing a deep clean in preparation for arrivals on Tuesday. Marriott, which has two hotels designated to take arrivals under the scheme, said booking numbers were “pretty low”.
Under the rules in England, only UK residents and Irish nationals can enter from the 33 high-risk countries at five airports: Heathrow, as well as London’s Gatwick and City airports, Birmingham and Farnborough, the latter for those using private jets. Direct flights from red-list destinations are banned, so anyone returning from there has to come via a third country.
The new rules apply to England, and the devolved governments in Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to follow suit although neither currently has any international air links.
The Scottish government has applied stricter rules, requiring all arrivals from abroad to quarantine in hotels, regardless of where they are arriving from. Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports will all process returning residents.
Airport and airlines have been in talks with the government for the past fortnight as they rushed to implement the new border requirements.
One airport still did not know on Friday which hotels to use, while the online portal for passengers to book their hotel stays crashed for 24 hours last week.
Unions have warned that the “rushed policy” was putting security guards at the hotels at risk.
“The government has given security companies less than 36 hours’ notice to put staff and plans in place to carry out this policy,” GMB officer Nadine Houghton said.
Passengers can face heavy fines or the threat of jail sentences for deliberately not complying with the rules.
The policy is part of a series of new border rules that also includes a requirement for all arriving passengers to take two tests for Covid-19 — on days two and eight after arrival — in addition to one they must take 72 hours before departure to the UK.
The travel sector has warned that the crackdown has hit the industry in what would normally be the busy half-term week as well as a crucial time for summer bookings.
“The industry simply cannot afford to wait until everyone in the UK is vaccinated before people start to travel again — otherwise insolvencies and redundancies will be inevitable,” ABTA, the trade association for the travel industry, said.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Friday showed that economic output of travel agents and tour operators fell 86 per cent in December 2020 compared with February 2020, while air transport output fell 89 per cent.