U.K. to Scrap PLF as Covid Travel Rules are Axed

The U.K. government will remove all remaining Covid-19 travel rules on March 18.

In a long-awaited move, transport secretary Grant Shapps said that the passenger locator form (PLF) and tests for all arrivals in the U.K. would be “stood down” from 4:00 am on March 18.

“These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter,” confirmed Shapps on Twitter.

Travel organizations for several weeks have been calling for the end of the PLF as the government has gradually eased travel rules since the start of the year.

The decision to get rid of all Covid-related travel regulations was welcomed by travel groups.

Dale Keller, chief executive of airline organization BAR UK, said in a statement: “This is a truly significant milestone and passengers and airlines will be delighted that the passenger locator form (PLF) is banished now that international travel into the U.K. will be harmonised with the domestic reopening. 

“We applaud this pragmatic decision by ministers to restore freedom of international travel by removing all remaining Covid-related border measures as evidence became overwhelming that border measures were largely ineffective in reducing the transmission of Covid.”

EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren in a statement added: “This welcome move by the U.K. government marks a return to truly restriction-free flying to and from the U.K., giving an extra boost to travel this Easter.

“We are looking ahead to what we expect to be a strong summer for easyJet, with plans to return to near 2019 levels of flying.”

Originally published in BTN Europe.