UK to spend £75M on charter flights to bring stranded Brits home

THE UK is committing £75m to help Britons stranded abroad by chartering rescue flights when there are no other routes available.

The announcement was made by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab at the daily Downing Street briefing on the coronavirus.

Up to one million British citizens are thought to be stranded as airlines and borders across the world shut down in a bid to stem the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Trade have signed a memorandum of understanding with a group of airlines – Virgin, EasyJet, Jet2 and Titan Airways, to help travelers get back where they have tickets and where there are still commercial routes available. British Airways have also made a commitment.

Travelers will be allowed to use different carriers or fly on different days.

Where this is no commercial option, the FCO is going to use the travel management company CTM to organise charter flights to bring Brits home.

When availability comes up for a flight, embassies and missions around the world will alert any British national in their country wanting to come home.

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Samantha Day

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