Passengers travelling through London Stansted are being asked to cover their faces and wear gloves.
The new pilot scheme at Stansted has been brought in by the airport’s owner, Manchester Airports Group which is also trialling the measures across its other airports, Manchester and East Midlands.
These airports are the first in the UK to ask their passengers to wear face coverings.
Passengers are being encouraged to bring their own gloves and face coverings or face masks to the airport. However, in the early stages of the pilot, gloves and masks will be provided for people without these items.
All MAG colleagues serving passengers at London Stansted will wear gloves and face masks, and all staff working for airport partners will be encouraged to do the same.
London Stansted will be conducting some limited temperature screening trials over the next few weeks. Initially, during this trial phase, this will be to test equipment and results will not be shared with passengers or used to decide whether a passenger can travel.
MAG is considering asking all passengers to make a health declaration in order to enter its airports and will give passengers sufficient notice of any such trials.
At present, with few flights and passengers at the airport, social distancing is practiced in Stansted’s terminal.
Steve Griffiths, London Stansted’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We have taken expert medical advice on how people can travel safely, and we’re pleased to be piloting these new measures at our airports for those passengers who do still need to travel.”
He added: “We now need to work urgently with Government to agree how we operate in the future.
In his address on Sunday, May 10, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “serving notice” on changes around travel from abroad.
He said: “To prevent re-infection from abroad, I am serving notice that it will soon be the time – with transmission significantly lower – to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air.”
Heathrow Airport is also trialling technologies and processes for health screening. Heathrow’s CEO says these could form the basis of a Common International Standard at all global airports.
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