Earlier on in June 2021, London’s Heathrow airport assigned one of the terminals at the airport to be dedicated to arrivals processing from countries designated by the UK as being on the “Red List”.
The designated terminal, Terminal 3, is being used for those who directly arrive from countries on the list, and this segregated traffic is then sent to quarantine before being let out in the country. The idea to segregate traffic came to the UK after many flights were already operated from India to the UK for months, and India was not in the Red List as late as April 2021 when the second wave was at its peak in India. All flights arrive at Terminals 2 and 5. Direct arrivals from red list countries are immediately transferred to Terminal 3 to pass through immigration. Only those travelling are permitted into the terminals.
There are 51 countries on the UK Government’s red list that covers regions linked with high-risk CoVid-19 variants, such as the Delta variant, including India and Brazil, and popular transit points such as UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Turkey. Under the UK Government’s rules, anyone in a red-list country must quarantine at a hotel for ten nights after their arrival, whereby they get tested at various intervals.
The UK envisages that their Red/Amber/Green Lists will continue for the foreseeable future. The segregation will cause the passenger volumes to arrive due to the green list being processed faster.
Till so far, as per Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye, the T3 pilot involved four countries. However, the plan is to move this facility to Terminal 4 in June 2021 itself. Terminal 3 will move to be a regular terminal at that point in time, which might include Virgin Atlantic and Delta.
Terminal 3 was closed down in April 2020, while Terminal 4 was closed in May 2020. Most airlines operating there shifted to Terminal 2.
Bottomline
London Heathrow is segregating passengers on the basis of their enlistment in the Red List. Arrivals from Red List countries will be isolated and diverted to Terminal 4, while others will proceed to immigration at their own terminals.
Have you experienced the Red-List arrivals in Heathrow recently? What has been your experience?
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