UK to fly home 900 Caribbean travellers in June

Flashback: Passengers at the British Airways counter at the Piarco Airport checking in for one of three repatriation flights to the UK in March. - SUREASH CHOLAI
Flashback: Passengers at the British Airways counter at the Piarco Airport checking in for one of three repatriation flights to the UK in March. - SUREASH CHOLAI

British travellers stranded in TT will be able to leave the country to return home on June 3 and 4.

It is expected that one flight will depart from Piarco International Airport and another from ANR Robinson International Airport on the respective dates.

The travellers are among those who were left stranded as countries across the globe closed their borders in an effort to stem the spread of covid19.

The UK Government organised charter flights to return 900 travellers across the Caribbean to the UK via Barbados. The sweeper flights will take British nationals and non-British nationals from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, TT, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat.

Three flights from Barbados will then leave Grantley Adams International Airport for London Heathrow on June 3, 4 and 5.

The last repatriation flights for British nationals in TT was arranged by British Airways on March 23, 24 and 26.

A British High Commission release stated that Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) teams across the Caribbean also helped over 11,000 British travellers return to the UK via commercial routes.

High Commissioner to TT Tim Stew said, “We continue to work on getting British travellers home to the UK. So far 1,000 British travellers have returned home from TT, and I am pleased that others will join them on this special chartered flight.

“This has been a great effort, made possible with the cooperation of the TT authorities. For those British travellers remaining in TT, we will continue to provide consular assistance.”

The release stressed that priority will be given to British travellers who are vulnerable such as people over the age of 70, people with medical requirements, those travelling with young children, and those located in more remote or at-risk areas. Non-British citizens with appropriate residency rights will be included if there is capacity.

It added that British travellers in TT who already registered their interest in returning to the UK on a chartered flight will be contacted by the British High Commission in Port of Spain by 26 May explaining how to book these flights. Those not yet registered are advised to contact the local High Commission using the details in the FCO’s country travel advice.

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