Airport named one of five key entry points
FARNBOROUGH Airport will be one of five approved entry points into England for travellers who will have to quarantine at a governmentdesignated hotel after arriving from a ‘red list’ country.
Since Monday, people travelling from one of 33 countries will have to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine as part of a new government scheme, which applies to anyone who has visited or passed through one of the red list countries in the 10 days before their arrival.
Only British and Irish nationals, or those with residence rights in the UK, will be allowed to travel in from those banned countries and must quarantine in a hotel upon arrival, completing two coronavirus tests throughout the 10-day period.
Travellers from those banned countries will only be able to arrive into England via one of five airports, and Farnborough has been listed as one alongside Heathrow, Gatwick, London City and Birmingham.
A statement from Farnborough Airport said: “Farnborough Airport operates in compliance with UK government regulations. The airport has been designated an arrival port for the purposes of new government quarantine rules for arriving customers on applicable business aviation flights. All other business aviation flights using Farnborough Airport are operating as normal.”
Farnborough is the only private airport on the list of governmentapproved entry points. Anyone who has a booking into a different airport will have to change their flight so they go to one of those five airports.
It is currently not known which hotels will be among those used in the scheme, and it was reported on Thursday that the booking system for the hotels had been taken down not long after it had gone live due to a technical issue.
Some 16 hotels have been contracted to provide 4,600 rooms for the programme, and anyone who has not booked before arriving in England faces a fine of up to £4,000 plus the costs of the hotel stay.
Travellers who are placed in quarantine hotels will be charged £1,750 for their stay, with guidance stating it will cost £650 for a second adult or child aged over 12 to stay in the room, and a further £325 for a child aged between five and 12.
The Department of Health said the costing will be reviewed before the end of March and may change. The fee covers transport from the port of arrival to designated hotel, food, accommodation, security, other essential services and testing.
Passengers face fines of up to £10,000 for failing to quarantine, and those who lie on their passenger locator forms face up to 10 years in jail. The government guidance states other ports of entry “may be added in the future” but for now anyone required to quarantine in a hotel who does not arrive at one of the designated airports “may face a penalty of up to £10,000 and will be charged for transportation” to the nearest designated entry point.