Virgin Atlantic: COVID-19 India Travel Restriction Update - 3 Dec

It remains a dynamic time for international travel and we’re continually working to keep you up to date with key travel restrictions and the impact it has on our flying programme.

There have been changes to travel restrictions for entry to India, which are detailed below. Our schedule remains unchanged – we are continuing to operate daily services from London Heathrow to both Delhi and Mumbai.

Travelling to India
Before customers travel to India they must:

Submit a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal here and include the last 14 days travel details
Upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report. This test should have been conducted within 72 hrs prior to departure
Submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the report. Should this not be completed, customers will be liable for criminal prosecution.

Requirements for passengers on arrival in India
Delhi and Mumbai Arrivals

Submission of sample for post-arrival COVID-19 test (children under 5 years of age are exempt) at the point of arrival (self-paid). Customers will be required to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight.
If tested negative, customers will then have to home quarantine for 7 days, re-test on the 8th day of arrival in India and further self-monitor their health for next 7 days

Pre booking of tests for passenger arrivals in to Delhi and Mumbai is recommended to save time on arrival. Pre booking of test can be done through Air Suvidha website

Travel to the United Kingdom
All customers travelling to the UK should continue to adhere to the following prior to travel. The rules for travel from countries and territories not on the red list will depend on our customers vaccination status.

All under 18's travelling to England from a non-red list country will be treated as fully vaccinated at the border and will be exempt from day 8 testing and pre-departure testing.

Arriving from a non-Red list country, such as India as of 2 Dec 2021

Fully vaccinated customers
If a customer is fully vaccinated through an approved vaccination programme, they’ll need to take these three steps before flying to England. To understand what makes them eligible for fully vaccinated status, please check GOV.UK here

Book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 PCR test - to be taken on or before the end of day 2 in England, and self-isolate until the negative result is confirmed. Please note, the PCR test can be taken as soon as customers land in the UK (on day 0), with rapid PCR tests offering a result in 24 hours or less.
Complete a Passenger Locator Form – including their covid-19 test booking reference number, any time in the 48 hours before they arrive in England
Take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 after they arrive in England

If they’re fully vaccinated, they will not need to take a pre-departure test; day 8 COVID-19 test or quarantine upon arrival.

Unvaccinated customers:
If customers do not qualify under the fully vaccinated rules; are partially vaccinated; or are not vaccinated at all, they will be subject to more stringent requirements. Before they travel to England they must:

Take a pre-departure COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 3 days before they travel to England
Book and pay for day 2 and day 8 COVID-19 tests – to be taken after arrival in England
Complete a Passenger Locator Form – any time in the 48 hours before they arrive in England

After customers arrive in England, they must:
Quarantine at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days
Take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8
Customers may be able to end quarantine early if you pay for a private COVID-19 test through the Test to Release scheme

Arriving from a red-list country (or travelled to one in the last 10 days)
Irrespective of vaccination status, customers who have been in a Red list country in the last 10 days will only be allowed to enter the UK if they are a British or Irish national or have residence rights in the UK.
Before customers travel to England, they must:

Take a pre-departure COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 3 days before they travel to England
Book a quarantine hotel package, including 2 COVID-19 tests. Book as early as possible to ensure availability, as customers won’t be permitted entry to England without proof of a confirmed quarantine package booking.
Complete your passenger locator form – any time in the 48 hours before they arrive in England

If customers are arriving from a Red list country to London Heathrow airport, their flight will land in Terminal 4.

When customers arrive in England, they must quarantine in a managed hotel, including 2 COVID-19 tests.

Our flexibility policy for assisting customer affected by these changes can be found here

We’re also aware that some restrictions for countries that we fly to are changing and it’s important that customers continue to check the requirements they need to comply with to enter any countrybefore they travel, as some countries might be on the ‘rest of the world’ list, but still maintain their own entry protocols. The latest UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) foreign travel advice can also be found here

Please check here regularly for updates and here for specific flight status.

Our Customer Centre are busy helping customers who have booked directly with Virgin Atlantic, and this means they are unable to respond to queries from our agency partners or our mutual customers.

For all other VSbulletin information, please visit https://www.vsflyinghub.com/en/vsbulletin