Travellers will be required to take a number of precautions before arriving at the airport.
As the UK prepares for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lay out his exit strategy for lockdown, a number of businesses have started taking precautions and planning ahead. Becoming the first airport in the UK to implement strict rules for customers to follow, Manchester Airport has announced today that there’ll be a number of new regulations enforced, all of which will help towards making air travel safer for everyone in the near future.
Not only will the airport be requiring any passengers to wear face coverings and gloves, but they’ll also be introducing limited temperature screening trials, which will see a small number of passengers tested while the airport learns more about the new equipment. The new guidelines have been enforced by the airport’s owners, MAG, and the company believes that they “represent a first step towards demonstrating ways in which air travel can be safe when more passengers start travelling again”. MAG has also revealed that they are currently considering asking all passengers to make health declarations in order to travel.
Social distancing is currently being practised while the airport remains quiet, however, the airport will also be requiring all customer-facing staff members to wear face masks and gloves, in a bid to keep as many people as safe as possible.
Speaking of the changes, Charlie Cornish, Group CEO, MAG, said: “It’s clear that social distancing will not work on any form of public transport. But we’re confident that when the time is right, people will be able to travel safely.
“MAG has worked with the rest of the airport industry on a new safety framework for travel. We now need the Government to work urgently with us to agree how we operate in the future. This has to be a top priority so that people can be confident about flying, and to get tourism and travel going again.
“At MAG, we’ve 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.”
The new regulations have been enforced today, and will likely remain in place for some time as the UK gradually exits lockdown.