British Airways Adds Flights to Transatlantic Testing Trial
The airline says over 500 customers have registered so far to take part in the trial on flights between the US and London Heathrow
Given the response to last month’s launch of COVID-19 testing trials on select transatlantic flights, British Airways, in partnership with American Airlines and the Oneworld alliance, has announced plans to expand the trial to two additional flights from the US to London Heathrow.
The British Airways flights added to the trial are BA208 between Miami and Heathrow, and an additional flight BA112 from New York JFK to Heathrow. The initial trial that started Nov. 25 had included three flights: BA114 from JFK to LHR, BA268 departing LAX to LHR and American Airlines flight AA50 from Dallas Fort Worth to LHR.
The addition means that a total of five daily transatlantic flights to Heathrow from the four US gateways of Dallas Fort Worth, New York JFK, LAX and Miami will now participate in the trials.
According to BA, over 500 customers have so far registered to take part in voluntary testing as part of the trial on flights between the US and London Heathrow. The coordinated effort aims to validate the value of COVID-19 testing in reopening international travel and mitigating the need for passengers to quarantine on arrival.
Meanwhile the airline has also announced that researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford will analyze aggregated, non-personal survey data from air travelers on their behavior and sentiment towards the trial testing regime.
A taskforce has been created to evaluate the results, made up of Oneworld member airline representatives and independent medical experts, alongside the Oxford researchers.
