For flights landing in England after 0400AM GMT on Friday 7 January, fully vaccinated travellers or customers aged 17 and under will no longer be required to do a pre-departure test before travelling to England and the requirement to self-isolate while awaiting the result of the Day 0-2 arrival test (currently PCR only) will be removed.
For flights landing in England after 0400AM GMT on Sunday 9 January: Lateral flow tests will be accepted as the Day 0-2 arrival test for fully vaccinated travellers or customers aged 17 and under arriving in England. Arrival tests must be purchased through a private test provider before departure to England, with the booking reference added to the UK Passenger Locator Form. Free NHS tests cannot be used by customers for travel testing, in line with UK Government guidance. Customers can visit help.virginatlantic.com for a helping hand with testing options and private providers. Children aged 4 and under are exempt from arrival tests.
If customers are fully vaccinated and arriving after 0400AM on 7 January but before 0400AM on 9 January, they’ll need to continue to do a PCR test upon arrival, but won’t need to self-isolate or do a pre-departure test.
Travellers who are not fully vaccinated will be required to follow the existing rules, explained on GOV.UK here, including a pre-departure test, two PCR tests upon arrival, and self-isolation for 10 days.
The removal of pre-departure testing before travel to England and costly PCR testing upon arrival for fully vaccinated travellers is welcome progress and a necessary step towards frictionless air travel for our customers. Travellers can now book with confidence and look forward to reconnecting with loved ones and business colleagues.
Please note, for customers travelling to Edinburgh, the Scottish Government is yet to confirm any changes to arrival testing requirements but we will keep customers updated in their pre-departure communications.
All customers, irrespective of vaccination status, must continue to complete a UK Passenger Locator Form within 48 hours before arrival in the UK.
Hong Kong Cancellations After careful review of our London Heathrow – Hong Kong schedule, Virgin Atlantic have taken the difficult decision to extend the temporary suspension of all passenger services until 6 February 2022, as they work with authorities to overcome current operational challenges on this route. Virgin Atlantic hope to reinstate this service as soon as practicable, providing vital connectivity between the UK and Hong Kong for customers and global supply chains. We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused to your customers.
Tel Aviv Cancellations Virgin Atlantic's London Heathrow - Tel Aviv flights have been suspended up to and including 19 January 2022, due to the UK being on Israel’s Red list. From 20 January, Virgin Atlantic will be updating our schedule, which will continue on a temporarily reduced frequency of 4 per week for the rest of January.
Where Virgin Atlantic are reducing frequencies on some routes to ensure impacted passengers can continue with their travel plans, they will be reprotected to the most suitable alternative departure. Where a flight is cancelled, due limited operations to these destinations, there will be no reprotection option available, these sectors will appear as UN.
Bookings affected by these changes will be updated in your GDS on Saturday 8 January 2022.
Cancellations effective until and including
Hong Kong
LHR-HKG
6 Feb 2022
Israel
LHR-TLV
19 Jan 2022
Virgin Atlantic are also making some frequency updates on selected routes.
Virgin Atlantic will continue to keep their website up to date with all the latest updates to schedule and travel restrictions.
Please check here regularly for updates and here for specific flight status.
