British Airways has added extra capacity to the US after seeing bookings almost double within hours of the UK government announcement that vaccinated US arrivals to England would no longer need to quarantine.
BA reported US bookings “surged by 95%” following the announcement on Wednesday of the relaxation from August 2, saying it has added extra seats to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago as well as to Berlin, Geneva and Hamburg.
Flights between New York-JFK and Heathrow will increase from 17 to 21 services a week from August 16, and from Los Angeles and Chicago to Heathrow from seven to 10 a week.
Services to Los Angeles will further increase to 14 a week from August 23 and flights between Seattle and Heathrow increase from four a week to seven.
BA said it would continue to expand its US-UK schedule throughout September.
The government relaxation of quarantine rules for vaccinated passengers came after a successful trial of vaccinate certification checks by BA, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow this month.
BA chief executive Sean Doyle said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming new visitors from the US and EU from next week.
“We’ll support our customers as we emerge from this crisis and hope for crucial travel corridors to be established to allow reciprocal agreements. This will allow UK nationals to travel as UK Covid cases fall and vaccination rates continue to rise.”
BA noted it has partnerships with a range of testing providers as well as with travel health app VeriFly.
Passengers whose travel documentation is certified through the app will be able to check-in through ba.com or the British Airways app and download their boarding pass before arriving at the airport.