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* Fully vaccinated EU, U.S arrivals to UK avoid quarantine
* Families reunite after 18 months of pandemic separation
* Heathrow CEO calls on govt to make it easier to travel
(Recasts with passenger reaction)
By Ben Makori
LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Families and friends were
overjoyed at London's Heathrow Airport on Monday after a travel
rule change meant they could reunite after 18 months of pandemic
separation.
"Very, very excited. It means the world," said Sue Blake, as
she waited to greet her son, daughter-in-law and grandson who
had flown in from New York and who she last saw two years ago.
"It's a big chunk of his life and I'm so thrilled for him
that he can come here," she said of the eight-year-old.
Watching the hugs and tears in the arrivals hall, Heathrow's
boss urged Britain to remove barriers to travel, not add to
them, amid speculation that the government was poised to impose
more rules.
"Let's just make it easier now for people to travel,"
Heathrow's chief executive John Holland-Kaye told Reuters.
Britain, where the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic
has nearly reached 130,000, reopened its borders to large parts
of the world on Monday, scrapping quarantine for fully
vaccinated arrivals from the European Union, excluding France,
and the United States.
The move was welcomed by families divided by the pandemic
and airlines strained by it.
"It is really awesome," said 31-year-old medical writer
Colleen Castro after collecting her luggage.
She and her husband had come to London to deliver some happy
news to his parents.
"It's been a really long time and, actually, I'm pregnant
with my in-law's first grandchild, so it's really exciting to
finally be able to be here and share that news with them."
But just as families, friends and business travellers
arrived at British airports like London Heathrow, the travel
industry faced a new headache over potential COVID-19 warnings
against holidays to Spain.
"We just need to keep things simple. We need to build
confidence in travel," Holland-Kaye said when asked about the
reports of another rule change.
Britain has one of the fastest vaccination programmes in the
world but the government has prevented the travel industry from
bouncing back because of its maze of rules and track record for
making last-minute changes.
In the latest twist, The Times reported on Monday the
government planned to warn holidaymakers against visiting Spain,
Britain's most popular holiday destination, because of concerns
about COVID-19 there.
Spain could go on a new category of risk - the "amber
watchlist" - meaning it could be upgraded to "red" at short
notice, with arrivals having to quarantine in hotels.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Ben Makori; Writing by
Sarah Young, Editing by Kate Holton and Angus MacSwan)
