After 19 months, the much-anticipated return of UK and US air corridors is happening on November 8, 2021.
Transatlantic travel between the UK and US has always meant big business for the aviation industry. According to the UK’s Foreign Office, nearly four million Brits travelled to the States in 2019, and figures from VisitBritain, the UK’s tourist board, revealed that Americans made 4.5 million visits to the British Isles. Pre-Covid, three million passengers a year travelled between London to New York alone, making it one of the most commercially significant and busiest air corridors in the world. As such, the freezing of transatlantic air routes for the last 19 months has been felt deeply by the sector, as well as all those who relied on its connectivity to do business and to see their loved ones.
As such, the announcement that the route will restart on November 8 has been a cause for celebration for airlines, frequent flyers and the travelling community as a whole. Following such a disappointing Christmas and Thanksgiving in 2020, the timing is extremely exciting and offers fully-vaccinated travellers the long-awaited opportunity to reunite with families and friends at this auspicious time of year.
The US moved onto the UK’s Rest of World (“ROW”) list on October 4, meaning that double-jabbed American visitors travelling east will no longer need to quarantine on arrival. Once the US borders reopen, this ROW status is great news for travellers from the British Isles as they will not have to self-isolate on their return from America either (although based on current regulations they will still have to take a test on day two after re-entry to the UK).
Demand for transatlantic travel has been building ever since the routes were closed in March 2020. Airlines reported massive surges in bookings as soon as the relaxation of Covid travel restrictions was announced. Virgin Atlantic saw a 600% spike in bookings for US flights, compared to the previous week, with ever-popular New York, and warm destinations like Orlando, Miami and Las Vegas attracting the most activity. In the hours following the announcement, British Airways announced an increase of nearly 700% in searches for holidays to the key destinations best loved by Brits, including New York, Orlando, Los Angeles and Boston. Compared to the previous week, BA’s searches for Thanksgiving dates increased by 2,000% and by 900% for Christmas travel.
With so much competition for flights, App In The Air is the best place to find transatlantic deals — with real time availability and the option to filter flight searches by price, time, airlines’ health policies or even by carbon emissions. Get planning your US or UK adventure in the app today.