This from an article in The Guardian on Tuesday 17th:
Airlines have piled more pressure on the UK government to open up transatlantic air corridors after the first confirmed “Covid-free flight” arrived at Heathrow and the launch of a pre-departure testing trial by British Airways.
A United Airlines flight from Newark arrived at London Heathrow on Tuesday morning having tested all of the passengers onboard to certify them free from coronavirus before departure.
About 40 passengers were cleared to travel, but one was refused after testing positive. The US carrier plans to operate 11 more Newark-Heathrow flights over the coming weeks, where every traveller agrees to be tested and cleared before takeoff.
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Meanwhile, BA will give volunteer passengers a series of free tests before and after departure on a number of US-UK routes, to demonstrate that flying is safe and that testing could replace quarantine.
While the government has signalled a “test-and-release” scheme will soon be introduced to cut the isolation period for international arrivals, BA has urged it to scrap quarantine in favour of pre-departure testing.