Passengers At The UK's Busiest Airport Are No Longer Required To Wear Face Mask

Heathrow Airport no longer forces passengers to wear them in its terminals, train stations, or office buildings, but they are nevertheless strongly encouraged to do so.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the most recent carriers to loosen their face-covering restrictions.

If the country to which they are traveling requires it, passengers must still wear them on board aircraft.

Masks were no longer required on some public transportation and in stores after the 'Plan B' restrictions ceased in late January.

However, until this week, Heathrow, which handles a huge number of international flights, had maintained the requirement that face coverings be worn.

Emma Gilthorpe, Heathrow's chief operations officer, expressed her delight at the airport's decision to abandon the use of mandated face masks.

"We can be certain that the investments we've made in Covid-secure measures - some of which aren't always obvious - combined with the wonderful protection afforded by the vaccine will continue to keep people safe while traveling," she said.

Heathrow said it would not hesitate to reinstate the mandate if there was a large increase in infections or a future variety of concern.

People who still want to wear face coverings will be free to do so, according to the airport.

Virgin Atlantic also said on Wednesday that it would change its face mask policy, making it a personal decision for customers and employees to wear them on board.

This will only occur on services where international mask-wearing regulations do not apply.

For the time being, it means flights between Heathrow and Manchester, as well as Caribbean locations including Barbados, St Lucia, and Antigua.

Customers may be requested to wear a mask when boarding and disembarking planes, as well as at destination airports, according to the airline.

It emphasized that masks will be essential on routes to or from the United States until at least April 18.