The UK will remove the last remaining Covid travel requirements from this Friday, in a move that has been welcomed by the travel industry.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that the need to complete a passenger locator form will be dropped later this week. All measures will cease from 4am on March 18, including the requirement of unvaccinated people to be tested for coronavirus.
Mr Shapps said it would mean “you can travel just like in the good old days”.
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Manchester Airport has said that it is 'reviewing' its rules on wearing face masks and will keep passengers informed of any changes.
Under current advice, the airport "strongly recommends" wearing of face coverings in all parts of the airport campus, including on airport buses. Staff are required to wear face masks in passenger areas of the terminal.
Social distancing measures, such as changed seating arrangements and one-way systems, have also been in operation throughout the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport has said that it will no longer require passengers to wear masks in its premises from Wednesday. Virgin Atlantic and British Airways also announced they are ditching mask requirements on some routes.
From Wednesday, British Airways customers will only need to wear a face covering on board flights if their destination requires it while Virgin Atlantic said it would be “gradually” removing compulsory mask rules, starting with Caribbean flights from London and Manchester.
Corneel Koster, chief customer and operating officer at Virgin Atlantic, said: “As we learn to live with Covid and with the legal requirement to wear a face mask now removed in England, we believe our customers should have the personal choice whether to wear a mask onboard on routes where international regulations around mask-wearing do not apply.”
He added masks will be required on most services, including those to or from the United States until April 18 “at the earliest”.
Jason Mahoney, British Airways’ chief operating officer, said the move was “welcome” and “a positive step forward”. He said: “As an international airline, we fly to a large number of countries around the world, all of which have their own local restrictions and legal requirements.
“For destinations where the wearing of a face covering is not mandated, our customers are able to make a personal choice, and we kindly request everyone respects each other’s preferences.”
Airlines Jet2.com and Tui Airways recently announced they were easing their rules on masks. Face masks no longer need to be worn on both TUI and Jet2 flights travelling to or from England or Northern Ireland.
The latest rule changes are designed to make overseas holidays easier despite a rise in coronavirus cases in the UK, although Mr Shapps cautioned travellers to check vaccination requirements demanded by other countries.
Mr Shapps told MPs on Tuesday (March 15): “We must remain vigilant against possible future variants, but thanks to the protective shield – which is robust, that we built – we can avoid simply reverting to the same restrictions that we’ve used in the past. So even if another variant of concern emerges, next time we will react differently.
“We’ve learnt a lot during this pandemic and we will use that experience to respond in more measured ways and in more flexible ways. For example, whilst quarantine hotels were appropriate for red list arrivals at an earlier stage of the pandemic, we’re now standing down the remaining capacity.
“Our default approach will in future be to take the least stringent possible measures, avoiding border restrictions to minimise impacts on travel, so we will maintain a range of contingency measures in reserve, tailoring our response to the situation.
“Our first recourse will be public health guidance and guidance to ports, airports, operators on how passengers and staff can stay safe and protect others, and we’ll avoid stricter restrictions wherever we possibly can.”
