Covid tests axed for Brits returning from abroad

People arriving in England or Scotland from abroad will no longer have to take Covid tests if they are fully vaccinated. With January being one of the most important months of the year for the industry, with the busiest traffic of consumers booking summer holidays, the new measures will also provide tourists and operators alike greater confidence that the winter holiday season can operate smoothly.

Easyjet reported on Thursday that it had seen UK bookings climb by almost 200% with demand to some destinations rising by 400%. However, with the Omicron variant still spreading through the UK and the European continent, there remains a sense of uncertainty regarding the health and safety of international travel that continue to persist, especially amongst passengers with higher purchasing power who can avoid risking infection.

These unabating concerns over the course of the pandemic has caused an unprecedented consumer trend towards the use of private aviation. Worldwide, the number of private jet flights in the first 10 days of January 2022 has increased by 38% compared to the same period in 2020, whilst the number of flights in 2021 represented a further 54% increase on those seen in 2020.

With private aviation experiencing a renaissance, TailHail – a first of its kind global private jet hailing service that is seeking to democratise the industry to the wider masses – saw flight enquiries through its service increase tenfold during 2021.