LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Passengers at the UK’s largest airport are no longer required to wear face masks.
Heathrow Airport no longer mandates individuals to wear them in its offices, terminals, or train stations, although it nevertheless encourages them to do so.
Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are the most recent carriers to loosen their face-covering regulations.
If the nation to which they are travelling mandates it, passengers will have to wear it on flights.
Masks were no longer necessary on some public transportation and in stores after the ‘Plan B’ restrictions ceased in late January.
According to BBC NEWS, Heathrow, which oversees a huge number of foreign flights, has maintained the requirement that face masks be worn until this week.
Emma Gilthorpe, Heathrow’s chief operations officer, expressed her delight at the airport’s decision to end the use of mandated face masks.
Heathrow said it will not hesitate to reinstate the rule if there was a large increase in cases or a future strain of worry.
People who still wish to wear facial coverings will be free to do so, according to the airport.
Virgin Atlantic also said on Wednesday that it will change its face mask policy, making it a voluntary decision for passengers and employees to wear masks on board.
This will only occur on services where global mask-wearing restrictions do not apply.
For the time being, it includes flights from Manchester and Heathrow, as well as Caribbean locations including Antigua, Barbados, and St Lucia.
Passengers may be requested to wear a face mask when boarding and departing flights, as well as at destination airports, according to the airline.
It emphasised that masks will be essential on travels from and to the United States until at least April 18.
Corneel Koster, Virgin Atlantic’s chief customer and operations officer, said the policy will be rolled over time. He urged travellers to be considerate of one another’s decisions.
Customers of British Airways (BA) will only be required to wear a facial covering on flights if the final destination mandates it as of Wednesday.
Jason Mahoney, British Airways chief operating officer, called the action “a positive step forward.”
Jet2, an airline and travel operator, loosened its regulations on mask face coverings on flights from and to England and Northern Ireland earlier this month. Tui has been doing the same since Friday.
Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, has stated that he hopes to see the use of required face masks phased out by April or May. He went on to say that the cabin crew had been consulted.
After 2 years of considerable disruption because of the pandemic, the aviation sector is expecting that the lifting of travel restrictions would welcome a booming summer.
