Passengers traveling from London’s Heathrow Airport to the United States on December 28 will have to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test or antigen test taken within three days of departure, company officials said in a statement.
United’s policy applies to its flights from Heathrow to Newark, New Jersey, as well as the company’s flights to Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC.
Similar requirements for flights from the United Kingdom to New York were announced on Monday by British Airways, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic.
On Thursday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said United passengers would be required by his state to be tested negative for the virus within 72 hours of their flights from London to Newark.
“As we continue to experience the second wave of COVID-19, it is so critical that we take any and all precautions to minimize the possibility for further transmission,” the governor said.
United said the health and safety of its workers and passengers was its “top priority.
The airline has said passengers joining a United flight from London Heathrow to another country will be exempted from the policy.
United said it already needs passengers to accept that they have not been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 14 days and have no symptoms.
When he checked in for the flight, the passenger admitted on the airline’s ready-to-fly checklist that he had not been diagnosed with Covid-19 and did not have Covid-related symptoms, an airline spokesman said.
After receiving more information about the health of this passenger, “it is clear that he has wrongly accepted this requirement,” the spokesman said.
CNN’s Chris Boyet and Sheena Jones contributed to the report.
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