Countries around the world are opening up airports, and domestic travel is slowly resuming as lockdown restrictions are being relaxed globally. United Kingdom’s capital, London is the latest city to reveal its plans about restarting airport operations after being closed for a while now. By Upasana Singh
This week, London City Airport, located close to the British capital’s financial district announced that it will reopen at the end of June to begin commercial operations. The international airport had closed in March and had earlier planned to restart flights by the end of April. However, in view of the global pandemic and a surging hike in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, it was safer to wait a few more weeks.
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Now, as London is preparing to reopen, it is expected that domestic services to major UK cities and regions will be the first to resume. International flights might start operations by early July. However, the exact timing will depend on the proposed quarantine period of passengers arriving in the UK.
According to officials, temperature checking technology on both departure and arrivals will be set up. Employees and staff members will be given face masks along with training to provide clear instructional signage at every step of the journey. In efforts to employ thorough cleaning routines, anti-bacterial surface treatment will be used to kill germs upon contact.
It will be mandatory for passengers to observe social distancing rules. In collaboration with CrowdVision, a London-based software company, the airport also plans to use technology to ensure that passengers are not gathered in large numbers at a given spot.
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As reported by airlinergs.com, chief executive at London City Airport, Robert Sinclair said, “While there are many challenges ahead for the UK aviation industry, it is our hope that by outlining the steps we are taking to make the airport safe, and by incorporating the views of our regular travellers into our plans, we will give people the confidence to fly from our airport to destinations across the UK and Europe.”
Mainly catering towards business customers travelling to and from London as well as other European destinations, the airport manages more than five million passengers per year.
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