Travel news live: Traffic light system could end next month

A aircraft from Germany has simply touched down in Singapore with the primary passengers benefiting from a brand new quarantine-free scheme for vaccinated travellers.

Singapore Airways flight SQ325 from Frankfurt touched down within the city-state at nightfall on Wednesday – the primary arrival underneath the “Vaccinated Journey Lane” (VTL) scheme. It’s open to only two international locations: Brunei and Germany.

Passengers to Singapore should declare that they haven’t left Germany for the earlier three weeks. They have to undertake a PCR take a look at inside 48 hours earlier than departure.

On arrival, they take one other PCR take a look at and should then journey by personal automotive or taxi to their lodging, and stay there till a damaging result’s obtained. They have to additionally take PCR exams – at their very own expense – on days three and 7 of their stays.

A brand new £29 ‘match to fly’ travel test kit has hit the market, eradicating the necessity for a video session with a physician earlier than outcomes being delivered.

My Journey Take a look at, created by the Personal Harley Avenue Clinic (PHSC), is designed to be filled with you to your travels and will be taken unsupervised, with a video and pictures of you taking the take a look at uploaded to an app as a substitute.

Dr Mark Ali, medical director of the Personal Harley Avenue Clinic, stated: “We’ve got the know-how to run this all from a smartphone, from wherever on the planet, and at £29 we consider that it affords actually good worth and pace for households and enterprise travellers alike.

“Through the use of good know-how, we’ve eliminated the necessity to have a name with a physician and simplified the method.”

Predictions are rising that the UK’s present visitors gentle journey system might be simplified or ended by the start of October.

A supply “briefed on the proposal” advised The Telegraph: “It’s about whether or not you’re vaccinated or not, slightly than the nation you’re travelling to.

“What it means is that inexperienced and amber disappear and solely vaccination standing will depend for the place you journey. For a vaccinated individual, simply as now all international locations aside from pink are ‘inexperienced’.

“For an unvaccinated individual, it signifies that your journey to a inexperienced nation may be barely harder.

“There’s a possible psychological increase in that lots of people assume journey to amber is dangerous whereas if it disappeared, folks could also be extra keen to journey to X, Y or Z.

“It may additionally incentivise folks to get vaccinated. There’s been a slowdown within the charge of vaccination, significantly amongst youthful folks and that’s a solution to encourage take-up.”

Funds service easyJet is launching a brand new route from Manchester Airport to Aqaba in Jordan this winter.

Flights will function as much as twice every week on Mondays and Fridays all through the winter, ranging from 6 December 2021.

Jordan’s solely coastal metropolis, Aqaba has quick access to Jordan’s high sights, resembling Petra and Wadi Rum, in addition to swimming and diving within the Crimson Sea.

Fares for the brand new route begin from £95.99 return.

Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Nation Supervisor stated: “We’re delighted to announce that we’re including much more thrilling locations to our Manchester community. We all know our prospects can’t wait to go on a long-awaited and well-deserved vacation, so this new route will show in style for patrons wishing to get away for some winter solar.”

Rail travellers from London to Edinburgh will have the ability to arrive within the Scottish capital an hour earlier when a brand new finances prepare hyperlink is working its full schedule.

The Impartial has studied the timetable for Lumo, which is ready to introduce new trains on the East Coast primary line from 25 October.

Whereas Lumo has far fewer trains than its large state-owned rival, LNER, the brand new operator plans a a lot earlier first northbound prepare.

The 5.45am from London King’s Cross will attain Newcastle at eight.39am and Edinburgh at 10.10am – 62 minutes forward of the primary LNER departure. The sooner arrival will assist Lumo’s purpose of attracting passengers from airways.

Heading south, LNER retains its clear edge: the one four-hour journey of the day departs from Edinburgh at 5.40am, calls solely at Newcastle and arrives in London at 9.40am.

The Lumo schedule reveals a median journey time between Edinburgh and London of 4h35m southbound and 4h29 northbound.

The chancellor has dashed hopes for an extension to the furlough scheme, which many journey companies within the UK are counting on to remain afloat.

Distinguished journey business figures have warned authorities that it has “30 days to save travel firms” – earlier than the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ends on 30 September.

In a letter to MP Henry Smith – chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for the way forward for aviation – Sunak wrote: “It will be difficult to focus on the CJRS to particular sectors in a good and deliverable means and it will not be the case that that is the simplest or wise means to supply assist for these sectors most affected by Covid-19.

“Grant assist is a devolved coverage space and the UK authorities has determined in England it’s preferable to supply native authorities with funding at a scale, and with the flexibleness they should greatest assist their native economic system, slightly than create a number of devoted grant funds, resembling one for the journey sector, to be administered from Whitehall.”

There’s nonetheless time to hitch tonight’s free Zoom occasion with The Impartial’s journey correspondent, Simon Calder, the place he’ll focus on what’s subsequent for journey with a panel of business specialists.

Simon might be joined by two specialists who know solely too nicely the affect that restrictions have had on journey, each domestically and additional afield. Chief Government of Go to Cornwall, Malcolm Bell, and Chief Government of Benefit Journey Partnership, Julia Lo Bue-Mentioned, might be readily available to debate the way forward for staycations, in addition to sharing suggestions for planning a vacation overseas.

Can we ever anticipate any sense of normality to return on the subject of reserving a visit?

Join free to hitch the occasion, which runs on Zoom from 6.30-7.30pm tonight:

The US’s main health organisation has moved Jamaica to its checklist of “highest threat” locations to keep away from.

“Keep away from journey to those locations. For those who should journey to those locations, be sure to are absolutely vaccinated earlier than journey,” reads the CDC journey recommendation for the Degree four international locations.

Locations that fall into the “Covid-19 Very Excessive” Degree four class have had greater than 500 instances per 100,000 residents prior to now 28 days, in accordance with CDC standards.

Jamaica was predicted to maneuver to the UK’s pink checklist on the final journey replace on 26 August, however it remained on the amber checklist.

The brand new finances prepare model set to serve the East Coast primary line will provide most railcard reductions – that means its lowest fares of £15 for a London-Edinburgh journey might be diminished to underneath £10.

It was initially believed that the same old 34 per cent low cost wouldn’t be supplied to passengers on the Lumo service, which launches on 25 October.

However sources have confirmed that almost all railcards will yield the fare lower – leading to one-way fares beneath £10 for travellers who seize one of many opening tranche of lowest-price tickets. These one-way journeys are promoting for £14.90, however that price comes all the way down to £9.80 for railcard holders.

Good morning and welcome to The Impartial’s journey liveblog, the place we’ll be sharing all the most recent updates.