Flights carrying the first UK leisure travellers to the US since the pandemic began have taken off from Heathrow, after Joe Biden permitted a reopening of the US border.
Setting aside a longstanding rivalry, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic planes took off simultaneously in what the bosses of the two airlines described as a “pivotal moment” for the battered industry. Both airlines have reported huge losses and laid off thousands of staff during 20 months of restricted travel.
British Airways flight BA001 – a number previously reserved for Concorde – and Virgin flight VS3 took off from London Heathrow on parallel runways for New York’s JFK airport at about 8.30am, more than 600 days since the US travel ban was introduced.
Speaking on Monday
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