Article from BTNews 6 APRIL 2020
Getting Brits home – full update
The government is ramping up efforts to bring home thousands of travellers stranded overseas by coronavirus with a new package of extra flights and ten additional airlines joining its scheme to keep commercial routes open and get British people back to the UK.
From this morning (6 April) the Foreign Office (FCO) will start to bring stranded British travellers back from India with flights from Delhi, Goa and Mumbai.
Since Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced last Monday (30 March) that the government had reached an agreement with airlines, more than 1,450 British travellers have flown home on specially chartered flights.
“We are committed to supporting Britons getting home either through commercial routes we have helped keep open or through specially chartered flights. With more airlines signing up it should mean more flights available but also a fairer deal for travellers by providing more flexibility over tickets and costs.
"Where it is possible to get back to the UK on commercial routes by any carrier, the FCO continues to encourage all British nationals to take such opportunities. The Department for Transport is working closely with airlines to bring those with pre-booked tickets home, either with the airline they booked with or on alternative routes where available. This includes airlines allowing passengers to change tickets between carriers, where permissible, and offering them the latest information and advice as the situation changes."
The 14 airlines that have signed up to the FCO plan are: Air Tanker, Blue Islands, British Airways, Eastern Airways, easyJet, Jet2.com, Jota Aviation, Loganair, Norwegian, Ryanair, Titan Airways, TUI, Virgin and Wizz.
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