CAA hands airlines fines for Covid-19 violations

LONDON - In the first three months of 2021 alone, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued a staggering 485 Fixed Penalty Notices - financial fines - to airlines for carrying passengers who had not complied with Covid-19 requirements for international passengers travelling into the UK.

Passengers arriving into the UK are required to provide proof of a valid negative Covid-19 test taken no more than three days before departure and are required to have completed a passenger locator form (PLF).

Additionally, passengers arriving from Green-list counties are required to have booked and paid for one Covid-19 test to be taken on day two after their arrival into the UK, passengers arriving from Amber-list countries are required to have booked and paid for two Covid-19 tests to be taken on day two and day eight and passengers that have been in a Red-list country in the 10 days prior to their arrival are required to have booked a place in managed quarantine.

"Airlines and operators are required to check that passengers have complied with these requirements prior to boarding their flight to the UK," the CAA said. "Where a passenger arriving into the UK by air is identified as having failed to comply with one or more of these requirements, Border Force may issue a financial penalty against the passenger. The Civil Aviation Authority may also issue a financial penalty (in the form of a Fixed Penalty Notice or 'FPN') against the operator."

Operators have 28 days to pay or contest the FPN and provide evidence to the Civil Aviation Authority demonstrating that they performed the necessary checks on the passenger concerned. In such cases, where operators are able to demonstrate compliance, we will rescind the FPN.

While the data for the first quarter shows only seven fines paid, this does not reflect how many FPNs have been paid to date; this data only shows the number that were paid up to the end of March. The majority of FPNs issued during Q1 have now been paid or rescinded. Further data will be published in our next quarterly update.