Who is still flying into the UK?

[speedtalker]

I'm not being goadie, I just don't understand it. I don't know anyone going on holiday. Who was in the massive queues at Heathrow? It can't be holiday makers, surely. It is people migrating? Travelling with work? Students?
I just can't get round the idea that people are flying around the world just now, although I do see the occasional plane in the sky, but leaders keep talk about quarantining foreign arrivals.

www.flightradar24.com/

You can see where they are flying from and flying to.

Ah ok, I can see Islamabad, Shanghai and Dubai going out. I'm guessing Dubai might be mostly holidaymakers? But the others- work?

Bristol airport tenerife lanzarote etc. Holidays?

A lot on Flightradar24 will be cargo.

I know of quite a few people who travelled home overseas for Christmas (in early December) and are still stuck and trying to get back to the UK.

I'm from another European country originally and the FB groups for people from my country living in the UK are still busy with posts from people flying to the UK. Mostly people who live here permanently but have been away for a variety of reasons - some work related, others personal, some students too. Some went to visit family earlier in December (before lockdown) and then the flights were all stopped between the UK and many EU countries due to the UK virus variant and they haven't been able to get back before now.

There is also only a limited time (6 months) you can be away from the UK in a year if you have pre-settled status and want to apply to upgrade it to settled status, which means some who went back to stay with parents in the autumn are now having to start thinking about returning to make sure they don't lose their right to apply for settled status (you can be away from the UK for 6 months in any 12 month period). I imagine other EU nationals are in the same situation. This affects students in particular if they chose to not return here at the start of the term in September.

Yup like @nordica says. Some people have genuine reasons to be coming back and even leaving the country. I guess it's hard for some people who aren't from another country or don't have actual business to do in another country, to understand that there are legit reason people may need to travel right now.

Someone I know is currently on holiday in central America so she and her family will be flying back in st dome point :/

@speedtalker

Ah ok, I can see Islamabad, Shanghai and Dubai going out. I'm guessing Dubai might be mostly holidaymakers? But the others- work?

Dubai is also a connection point for travel elsewhere. Apparently lots from South Africa are travelling via Dubai to avoid restrictions

Thanks, that makes sense.
I guess quite a few people might have thought it was finally safe to go see family months ago, but then got stuck and now the clock is ticking to get back.

As pp suggested, my parents travelled to their apartment late last year for Xmas (retired, home from home).
Ilness, cancelled flights, UK cold and locked down = not back yet. Will be travelling soon ready for me to have the first DG.

I traveled out to Ghana in September when the restrictions lifted to be with my family and have been here since. My company have now ordered all staff working abroad to come back! So I have no choice but to be boarding a plane next week, only to go and work from home at my parents instead of working from home here!

My dh has travelled for work the whole time throughout this pandemic OP. Some People really have no choice but to travel for work.

My DS(6) currently does online school with classmates in Italy, Romania, Albania and (I think) Lithuania. Since the schools are closed, people are spending time in their home countries, but the parents are back and forth to the UK.

Whatever their reasons, hotel quarantine should happen now. Not starting in two weeks time as is rumoured.

@peak2021 some People travelling for work don't have time to quarantine.

I don’t want to pry into specifics of posters on here, but what jobs are we talking about where people have to travel overseas at the moment?

I’m sure it’s obvious but my brain has gone to mush.

Oil rig crew, merchant navy crew, aviation staff...to name a few.

Dubai is also a connection point for travel elsewhere. Apparently lots from South Africa are travelling via Dubai to avoid restrictions

You can't fly from Dubai to the UK at the moment. The flights are going to Heathrow cargo only and returning to Dubai with passengers. Lots of people who live in Dubai were in the UK when flights closed and want to get home.

Interesting to see flights en route from Johannesburg to Frankfurt and Zurich. They're definitely passenger flights (if they're cargo it says so) and I thought the Germans had also banned SA flights?

Then again so have we, but they're still coming in via the Gulf so ...

@speedtalker
I'm not being goadie, I just don't understand it. I don't know anyone going on holiday. Who was in the massive queues at Heathrow?

Heathrow on a normal day used to handle about a ballpark 100,000 people arriving. It's currently running at 10,000 or below, only using 2 (?3) instead of 5 terminals so if the queues were massive it was down to queue handling/increased checks rather than an unusually high number arriving at Heathrow...the number arriving into Heathrow is down to a trickle compared with just over a year ago.

It's also worth being aware that unlike many UK airports Heathrow's main business is handling business travel/travel, not holiday travel, and on most flights business and work travellers are in the majority..and travel for business/work purposes (e.g. people working in logistics, oil, gas, medics, etc etc) is still allowed.

The comment about "a lot on Flightradar24 will be cargo" is absolutely correct. Lots of freight is being flown into the UK and a significant amount of that is being transported into the UK on aircraft that would normally be carrying passengers...

're the business travellers, there's someone I've seen a fundraiser for that was in Mexico for business recently, has caught covid and is now trying to raise money to pay for the treatment. They are some sort if talent agent so I'm surprised they weren't able to conduct their business via zoom.

The company i work in, a lot of people were doing 2-3 countries a week pre covid but all happening via zoom now

Some people travel to attend funerals or go to visit someone after they been told they only got limited time left. I know off one person who traveled recently from an eu country for his brothers funeral. Under normal circumstances I would have been part of that funeral but with limited amount of people allowed a phone call sufficed.

I live in the US and our ex-Pat pup on Facebook is full of posts from people going back and forth between the UK and the US. I would fly to the UK too if I could get time off work, which I can’t.

Technicians, Engineers, scientists, medical staff, diplomats, journalists, oil workers, students returning from 'home' or Uni 'overseas'. Very few are simply on jolly hols.

Ones close to me.

Frankfurt to Brum. That's a business flight. Those aren't hol destinations in February.

Edinburgh to East Midlands.

Shanghai to London. That will be people from all over far east.

Most the planes will be sparsely populated.

My in-laws will be one of those flying from South Africa soon, they're flights were cancelled via Dubai, so they have rebooked with Quatar, another route is Ethiopian airlines. They're emigrating here to be closer to us, going by their South African expat group there are a lot that are moving here, and not coming just for a holiday.