Some six hundred days since the majority of UK nationals were last able to fly to the US, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic today marked the reopening of transatlantic corridor with a historic dual take-off from London to New York.
The airlines joined forces in a “unique show of unity” to celebrate “a long campaigned for and pivotal moment” for the travel industry, with flights BA001 – a flight number previously reserved for Concorde – and VS3 making a synchronised departure on parallel runways this morning.
From today, fully vaccinated nationals of the UK and 26 Schengen countries can enter the US upon provision of vaccination certificate and proof of a negative Covid-19 test result taken within 72 hours of depature.
“After more than 600 days of separation, today is our moment to celebrate the UK-US reopening. We’re setting aside rivalry and for the first time ever, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic aircraft will be seen taking-off together to mark the vital importance of the transatlantic corridor,” said Sean Doyle, British Airways Chairman and CEO.
“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.”
Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic chief executive, added: “Today is a time for celebration, not rivalry. Together with British Airways we are delighted to mark today’s important milestone, which finally allows consumers and businesses to book travel with confidence. The US has been our heartland for more than 37 years and we are simply not Virgin without the Atlantic.”
British Airways is set to fly to 23 US airports this winter with up to 246 flights a week. Its growing network will include eight daily flights to New York by December; double-daily services to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas and Miami; and daily services to Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Atlanta, Denver and Houston.
In October it restarted services to Austin, Orlando, Tampa, San Diego, Las Vegas and Baltimore, and in December will begin flying again to Nashville and New Orelans.
Virgin, meanwhile, is restarting flights from London Heathrow to Orlando and Las Vegas from 8 November as well as flights from Manchester to Orlando and New York.
The airline has also been “steadily ramping up flying” to destinations including Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.