The government pledged the Passenger Locator Form (PLF) required of international arrivals to the UK will be gone “as soon as possible” last night.
But sources suggest the Department of Health, the chief medical officers and the Scottish government remain opposed to its removal.
Aviation minister Robert Courts told the Airlines UK annual dinner in London: “We’ve heard your concerns in the Passenger Locator Form. The secretary of state [Grant Shapps] and I both want the PLF gone as soon as possible and we are working towards that.”
He argued: “Since early February we’ve had one of the most open Covid regimes in the world. This is a Conservative government. We must not and will not become addicted to bureaucratic restrictions.”
Courts also pledged that any future border requirements to deal with Covid-19 variants would be “proportionate”.
He told the audience of aviation industry leaders and MPs: “Many of you have given your time to develop the toolkit of options to deal with any future variants of concern. Any contingency measures will be used proportionately to the risk to public health.”
The minister gave no indication of when the PLF will be removed. Industry commentator Paul Charles tweeted yesterday that the PLF would be removed by March 18.
Transport Select Committee chair Huw Merriman told a Business Travel Association conference in London last week: “I’m pretty confident we’ll get [the PLF] dropped by Easter.
However, Merriman said the Department of Health remains opposed to the PLF’s removal.
The government has yet to confirm whether it will remove Covid-19 testing requirements for unvaccinated passengers. The PLF is currently the means by which airlines and Border Force identify arrivals’ vaccination status.
An airline source told Travel Weekly: “The question is not do you get rid of the PLF. The question is do you need to provide any evidence of Covid vaccination at the border? If you don’t, we don’t need the PLF.
“The situation is changing by the week. The next change could be the complete removal of the PLF if there is no Covid vaccination certificate required.”
A second aviation source said: “The PLF does need to go. The Department for Transport believes it should go. But don’t underestimate Border Force’s ability to defy expectations.
“Border Force documents talk about retaining health screening at the border into 2023. It is under the impression the PLF could remain. We genuinely don’t know.
“The Chief Medical Officers want the PLF retained, and Scotland wants to keep it for tracking.”
The source suggested: “The government may want to retain the capacity to have the PLF in case of variants. That would be sensible. But should we continue to have to fill it out?
“We expect the review in the next couple of weeks. But the Department of Health is telling us nothing.”
Ireland removed the PLF from Sunday March 6, allowing unrestricted entry to vaccinated and unvaccinated arrivals and Greece has announced it will do so from March 15.