Air travel is one of the last parts of society to still be subject to COVID measures in the UK. After all, no one wants another Delta and Omicron to enter the country, do they? While travellers no longer have to test on arrival in the UK, they do have to fill out long, detailed passenger locator forms. But now it’s hoped that even this will be scrapped by Easter.
The forms have been around since June 2020, when travel was much more difficult (and riskier, too). Now ministers are hoping to scrap it before the school holidays, which start in early April. Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has been pushing for the change for weeks. According to The Guardian, health secretary Sajid Javid is now on board, too, and will officially argue for forms to be scrapped at a meeting of the COVID operations committee on Monday.
But despite those calls, the UK government is remaining cagey about the exact timeline for ditching them. A government spokesperson told The Independent that no decisions had yet been made. “We continue to simplify the passenger locator forms as part of our efforts to make travel easier,” they said. Whether this means the process will be scaled down, rather than removed completely, remains to be seen.
Several other countries have already begun removing their forms: Ireland no longer requires passengers to provide tracking information, while Greece and Belgium are axing their equivalents this week. Norway and Iceland no longer have any COVID restrictions for travellers at all.
In the UK, the scrapping of locator forms will likely only apply to double-jabbed travellers. The unvaccinated will probably still be required to take a PCR or lateral flow in the country of departure before entering the UK, as well as a PCR two days after arrival. These are also likely to be under review, so definitely keep an eye out for major changes before booking that next getaway.
