Covid-19: Air India to resume flights to UK from Saturday

National carrier Air India will restart flights to the United Kingdom from May 1. The airline had suspended to and from flights to the UK between April 24 and 30 following the UK government’s decision to include India in the red list of countries over a surge in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases here.

Air India on Wednesday informed that it will be operating flight from Mumbai to London’s Heathrow airport on a slew of dates starting May 1. There will be a return flight on the same day. First to and fro flight from Delhi to Heathrow will be on May 2 and that from Bengaluru will be on May 5.

Air India informed that bookings will be open through the its official website, mobile app, booking offices, call centre and authorised travel agents. “Passengers who are already booked on these dates and wishing to travel, will be required to rebook and revalidate their bookings,” the national carrier said in a series of tweets.

However, passengers are requested to read the updated guidelines carefully in view of the UK government’s stricter norms. “It will be the sole responsibility of the passengers to ensure his/her eligibility to enter the destination country. Air India will accept no liability if non compliance results in denied boarding,” Air India added.

The UK government had added India to its travel ban list amid soaring coronavirus cases in the country and the emergence of a new variant. Announcing the ban, British health secretary Matt Hancock had told the House of Commons that the curbs are necessary to “protect the progress we have made in this country in tackling this awful disease”.

In its latest addition, the US will restrict travel from India from Tuesday in view of the Covid-19 spike. “On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately. The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in India,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.