London Heathrow, UK airlines dropping masking requirements in airport and in flight

London’s Heathrow Airport, the largest airport in the United Kingdom, will no longer require travelers to wear a face mask while traveling, according to BBC News.

The airport will instead recommend that passengers wear face masks. 

“While we still recommend wearing them, we can be confident the investments we’ve made in Covid—secure measures—some of which aren’t always visible—combined with the fantastic protection provided by the vaccine will continue to keep people safe while traveling,” Heathrow Chief Operating Officer Emma Gilthorpe said to BBC.

The airport said that if infections rise again or a new variant of concern emerges, it may once again implement face mask requirements throughout its facilities. 

In addition to Heathrow Airport lifting its face mask requirements, British Airways has also said that it will no longer mandate masking on board its flights. 

Starting Wednesday, unless the destination mandates face masks in flight, the airline will not require passengers to wear them. 

Virgin Atlantic, another British carrier, also announced that it would be removing the mandate for face masks on board its flights starting Wednesday, according to CNN.

“This policy will be introduced gradually, beginning with our Caribbean services from Heathrow and Manchester airports,” Corneel Koster, Virgin’s chief customer and operating officer, said in a statement, according to CNN. 

The Biden administration has extended the federal mask mandate for all mass transportation networks in the United States through April 18, one month after it was set to expire.