The below notification has been sent out by Virgin Atlantic 

As the skies reopen we’re ready to ensure that we protect public health and enable our mutual customers to book and travel smoothly with confidence.

Virgin Atlantic, in partnership with Prenetics, will help remove the guesswork from travel this summer by offering innovative and convenient Covid-19 testing ‘Green’ and ‘Amber’ bundles and individual tests delivered to our customer’s door.    This exciting partnership gives customers easy and convenient access to the necessary testing for Virgin Atlantic destinations, where at home tests are accepted.

Each bundle is based on the UK Government’s risk-based travel traffic light system for arrivals to England, starting currently from £152 for a ‘green’ country (and £130 when the list is expanded and rapid antigen is a destination’s pre-departure requirement) and £179 for an ‘amber’ country. Individual PCR tests will start from £55, with results within 24 hours of receipt at lab.

Customers can find out more about Covid-19 testing for travel before departure, at the airport and on arrival, and our other trusted partners here.

You can read the full Press Release here.

Travelling from England

From 17 May, non-essential international travel will be permitted again, and customers won’t need to fill in a Declaration to Travel form. 

However, if they're travelling from England to anywhere outside the UK up to and including 16 May, they must carry evidence of a legally permitted reason to travel and a completed declaration form. 

Customers must check the testing and quarantine requirements they need to comply with for their destination country before they travel. 

Essential information to enter the USA

1. All air passengers from the UK to the USA aged two years and above, must provide a negative Covid-19 test result from a PCR, LAMP or antigen test taken within 72 hours before departure.
2. Everyone must print and complete a Passenger Disclosure and Attestation form before they travel to the airport as they will need to provide it to our airport staff to collect.

Everything our customers need to know before they head to the airport can be found here, but it’s also important to check the latest official travel advice and entry requirement; The latest UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) foreign travel advice is available at   www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Travelling to England

The United Kingdom is taking steps to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Customers arriving in England are up to and including 16 May, are required to have two PCR tests, on day 2 and day 8 of their 10-day quarantine. If arriving from a 'red list’ country, passengers will also need to quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

It is vital that all arriving customers comply with these testing and quarantine requirements and complete the online Passenger Locator Form here before arriving at the departure airport. 

From 17 May, all persons (including UK nationals and residents) aged 11 years and over arriving in the UK from outside the common travel area must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 3 days of departure to the UK. This includes transiting passengers. 

Everyone must complete an online passenger locator form before they board their flight to the United Kingdom. 

The UK Government has now introduced a risk-based ‘traffic light system’, designating countries either Green, Amber or Red status. 

If you have travelled through a red list country in the last 10 days, you must have a valid managed quarantine facility booked prior to departure. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/travel-quarantine-and-testing. 

If you are arriving from an Amber country, everyone aged 5 years and over is required to take a COVID-19 test on days 2 and 8 of 10-day home quarantine, unless your job qualifies for a travel exemption. You must have these tests booked prior to departure. You can also utilise the Test to Release scheme to take a further PCR test on day 5 and end self-isolation early.

If you are arriving from a Green country, you do not need to self-isolate but must take s PCR test on or before day 2 in England.
You must follow these rules even if you have been vaccinated.

Please note, these UK Government public health measures will be enforced using financial penalties.  
Please visit www.gov.uk/uk-border-control for detailed public health advice and requirements for entering the UK.

We're also excited to share that we have extended our trial of the IATA Travel Pass on our London Heathrow-Barbados service, in close collaboration with the Barbados Government, which will accept the Pass at its border. Customers travelling for permitted reasons on flights VS131 from London Heathrow to Barbados until 4 June 2021, will be invited to participate in the trial by downloading the IATA Travel Pass on their smartphone. Using the app they can create a digital ID comprising their profile photo and passport information and upload their Covid-19 credentials, selecting relevant flight information.

The IATA Travel Pass is at the forefront of digital health pass solutions being developed, allowing customers to verify that they meet the health criteria needed to travel between certain countries, with evidence of a negative Covid-19 test. Future versions of the app will also incorporate vaccine records. The free app is currently being considered by governments around the world to support the restart of international travel at scale and Virgin Atlantic will seek approval from the UK Government to expand the trial, to accommodate customers arriving at the UK border on Barbados-Heathrow flights. Find out more here.

We look forward to welcoming our mutual customers on board soon.  In the meantime, thank you for the incredible partnership you have shown us.

Fly safe, fly well