Airport, Covid-19, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Transport

The flight is scheduled to depart the UK at 5:30 p.m. on December 28.

He said that the seats on the trip will be divided into three parts and tickets will not go on sale to the public. Rinkevics explained that the embassies of the three Baltic States will seriously evaluate the criteria and create lists of returnees.

"We are talking about nationals who have social, humanitarian or legal reasons to return. These are, for example, people who will not be able to stay in the UK after January a due to Brexit, or nationals who have been on a business trip to the UK and cannot get back," the minister said.

Rinkevics said that Lithuania and Estonia would ensure the transportation of their citizens from Riga. In turn, Latvian citizens will have to take a mandatory Covid-19 test upon arrival and observe ten days of self-quarantine in a hotel designated and paid for by the state.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry press secretary Janis Bekeris told LETA that the flights will be organized by all three Baltic countries, and each country will have approximately 50 seats on the flight.

The Foreign Ministry said on its website that the Foreign Ministries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will organize a joint repatriation flight from Gatwick Airport in London to Riga on December 28.

Tickets to the December 28 flight from Riga to London will only be sold to British citizens and permanent residents of the UK, Transport Minister Talis Linkaits (New Conservative Party) said on Twitter.

As reported, taking into consideration reports of a new Covid-19 variant circulating in the United Kingdom, the Latvian government on Sunday banned passenger traffic with the UK from Monday, December 21, till January 1.