London’s Heathrow airport has begun stockpiling imported items to guard against the impact of a no-deal Brexit – including rubber gloves and swabs used for scanning passengers and luggage at security controls, as well as Dutch parts for its baggage carousels. Like other UK businesses, the country’s busiest air hub has started storing up European Union-sourced goods to ensure that it can carry on functioning should Britain crash out of the bloc without an agreed settlement on March 29th, Chief Executive Officer John Holland-Kaye said in an interview Friday. Day-to-day operations at the airport should carry on functioning as normal given agreements in place between the UK and EU to maintain flights even in a hard Brexit, the CEO said. Mr Holland-Kaye said a “real pragmatism” is emerging as people come to terms with the real possibility of leaving without a deal, he said. – Bloomberg

Source: The Irish Times February 08, 2019 18:33 UTC