In this post:
True figures of positive tests from travellers
The latest figures have revealed the rates of travellers returning to the UK from abroad that test positive as reported by the Telegraph.
- A total of 0.4% of people fully vaccinated entering the UK are testing positive (well, of the figures the testing companies actually bother to report!)
- Those with a single vaccine were twice as likely ot be positive at 0.8% of arrivals
- For those unvaccinated it was only around 1.2%
- Yet the rate of positive tests in the UK itself is around 4%
- So as I have been saying for a while, you are less likely to get Covid in amber and green countries than in many parts of the UK!
Henry Smith, chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group, said the findings justified replacing PCR tests for amber and green countries with cheaper lateral flow tests. Many people have been calling for this due to the high costs of PCR tests and the fact that we have some of the harshest testing requirements in Europe for vaccinated travellers.
The report also showed which countries had the highest positive test rates for passengers:
- Spain – 0.7%
- Greece 0.27 %,
- Portugal 0.19%
- Croatia 0.16%
- France 0.12%
- USA 0.12%
- Italy 0.06%
Aer Lingus delays some US flights
There is still no sign of the US taking off its ridiculous travel ban for the UK. Most airlines are now predicting the ban to be in place until November.
Aer Lingus has delayed the start of its scheduled Manchester to New York JFK and Manchester to Orlando services due to the continuing restrictions on travel into the USA. The New York JFK service will now commence on 1st December and the Orlando service will commence on 11th December.
Aer Lingus says that they remain fully committed to its services from Manchester Airport and its new non-stop Manchester to Barbados service, with three flights a week, will still commence as planned on 20th October. There is no reason for it to be delayed as Barbados is currently green.
Both New York and Orlando services were due to start on 30th September. Aer Lingus are contacting customers directly to offer either a full refund, re-accommodation on an alternative service, or the option of a voucher with an additional 10%, for use across the Aer Lingus network over the next five years. I think this is a pretty decent offer, especially the extra 10% on the voucher which they have offered for a while.
Qantas plans for flights to the UK
Qantas has just announced its results and unsurprisingly they have made huge losses. The airline had a $12 billion revenue impact from COVID-19 crisis in FY21 and made a Statutory Loss Before Tax of $2.35 billion.
Today the Oneworld airline outlined their plans for restarting international flights. On current projections, Australia is expected to reach a vaccination threshold of 80% in December 2021, which would trigger the gradual reopening of international borders.
Markets like the UK, North America, and parts of Asia have high and increasing levels of vaccination which makes them likely to be classed as low-risk countries for vaccinated travellers to visit and return from under reduced quarantine requirements. Although given that Australia has signed contracts for quarantine hotels for several more years, I wouldn’t expect it to be much reduced!
Flights to destinations that still have low vaccine rates and high levels of COVID infection will now be rescheduled from December 2021 until April 2022 – including Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Johannesburg. Levels of travel demand – and therefore, capacity levels – will hinge largely on government decisions on alternative requirements to mandatory hotel isolation for fully vaccinated travellers.
Assuming current projections hold and the 80% vaccine threshold is met in December, Qantas and Jetstar plan to trigger a gradual restart as outlined below. If those assumptions change or dates move, the restart plans will adjust accordingly.
- From mid-December 2021, flights would start from Australia to COVID-safe destinations, which are likely to include Singapore, the United States, Japan, United Kingdom and Canada using Boeing 787s, Airbus A330s, and 737s and A320s for services to Fiji.
- Flights between Australia and New Zealand will be on sale for travel from mid-December 2021 on the assumption some or all parts of the two-way bubble will restart.
- Qantas’ ability to fly non-stop between Australia and London is expected to be in even higher demand post-COVID. The airline is investigating using Darwin as a transit point, which has been Qantas’ main entry for repatriation flights, as an alternative (or in addition) to its existing Perth hub given conservative border policies in Western Australia.
- Five A380s will return to service ahead of schedule. These would fly between Sydney and LA from July 2022, and between Sydney and London (via Singapore) from November 2022.
In total, 10 of Qantas’ A380s with upgraded interiors are expected to return to service by early 2024, with timing dependent on how quickly the market recovers. You can see the new business class seats above. Two A380s will be retired.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “The prospect of flying overseas might feel a long way off, especially with New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown, but the current pace of the vaccine rollout means we should have a lot more freedom in a few months’ time.
“It’s obviously up to government exactly how and when our international borders re-open, but with Australia on track to meet the 80 per cent trigger agreed by National Cabinet by the end of the year, we need to plan ahead for what is a complex restart process.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to happen, including training for our people and carefully bringing aircraft back into service. We’re also working to integrate the IATA travel pass into our systems to help our customers prove their vaccine status and cross borders.
“We can adjust our plans if the circumstances change, which we’ve already had to do several times during this pandemic. Some people might say we’re being too optimistic, but based on the pace of the vaccine rollout, this is within reach and we want to make sure we’re ready,” added Mr Joyce.
International flights obviously remain subject to Government and Regulatory approval. The plans are based on the Australian ‘Phase C’ Reopening Plan. During this phase:
- Triggered when vaccine rate among eligible Australians reaches 80 per cent
- Highly targeted lockdowns only
- No caps on returning vaccinated Australians
- Lift all restrictions on outbound travel for vaccinated Australians
- Extend travel bubble for unrestricted travel to new candidate countries
- Gradual reopening of inward and outward international travel with safe countries and proportionate quarantine and reduced requirements for fully vaccinated inbound travellers
3 comments
Have you, or anyone else experience of what happens if you test positive for your return trip home? I understand you follow local public health guidelines but what does that actually mean practically? Your accommodation is just about to run out and you know no one in country so what happens?
It depends on the country. Some countries force you to go to their own quarantine hotels which can be quite unpleasant. Barbados often forces you to go to the holding centre which is ex military barracks for 24 hours or more. Some allow you to stay on in your hotel and in some countries they can’t kick you out of the hotel if you test positive. My advice is take a NHS rapid test with you. That way you know before you do the official test. Allows you time to look at your options before anything official kicks in.
I think the wheels have officially come of the bus when it comes to both the expensive and numerous testing ( I still for the life of my don’t know why I need to provide the UK with a test result just to leave the damn country – that test being in addition to any test required to enter X country on arrival although you can kill two birds with one stone getting an eg PCR within 72 hrs for your destination and also providing that to our own lot. The principal still remains I shouldn’t need to pay for a test to give to HM Gov just to leave the UK).
We all know that as per their own metrics that red list should’ve been a lot bigger but the leaked info that they didn’t want to put Spain or Greece in the list “because their isn’t the Q hotel capacity if we do” goes to prove that a large part of it isn’t about our safety or protection at all but more about fleecing Brits. If it was about public health and safety then they currently have broad sweeping emergency powers which would enable them to quite literally take control of X,Y, Z to create said capacity.imho the advice was so late in being released and the places in the Caribbean weren’t included because the Govs own legal advice was that requiring expensive hotel Q from eg Jamaica but not from Spain ( who have obstensibly similar figures) would leave them open to legal challenge on doing so. In fact I’m of the opinion that they’ve overcooked the whole thing and have now trapped themselves as even leaving all those countries off the list this time around simply means that legal challenge can be pursed down the road if they ever place a country on the list that has lower rates than Spain, Greece, St Lucia etal had this time around.
They’ve reached a point where they can now be hoisted on their own petard. If I was to be in a place that went red I’d stay put, refuse to comply upon return to force them to arrest me. Would walk straight out of the place repeatedly. Sure as hell wouldn’t pay and would sue the gov for false imprisonment, false arrest and deprivation of my human right to freedom of movement and association.
Yes this all sounds a little extreme but now it’s been exposed that public health only counts when they can profit off of it and/or it suits them then the challenge needs to come sooner rather than later as far as I’m concerned
Comments are closed.