As part of the week long Pride London celebrations, Heathrow Airport commissioned a rainbow flag art installation containing the kisses of 6,000 people.

Starting its journey in Terminal Two on July 1, the empty flag invited passengers to plant a kiss in red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple lipstick. For those who chose not to pucker up, a kiss stamp was on hand to add their smacker. Travellers from around the globe used the moment to show their support for the LGBT+ community.

The flag eventually attracted the love of over 6,000 people – a number that didn’t take long considering over 84,300 passengers pass through the terminal. As the almost full flag travelled to its final location, delighted staff added the last few kisses before it was hoisted aloft to fly over the terminal for the rest of the month.

Heathrow’s chief of staff Carol Hui spoke about the decision. “We’ve been getting into the spirit of Pride right across the airport to show our support for London and the rest of the UK, where diversity and equality are so strongly celebrated and equally valued across our employees and passengers alike.”

She continued,”‘Many of the LGBT+ community travel into London, to celebrate this incredible festival so we wanted to give them a warm welcome by, quite literally, flying the flag for Pride.”

Heathrow Airport went one further by also unveiling the LGBT+ faces of its Welcome campaign. Consisting of two members of staff and three competition winners, the images will greet travellers to London during Pride season..

One of those selected, Heathrow staff member, Steph Constantinides said: “For many years, my identity has been the talking point for many people. Apparently, I don’t fit in the ‘female’ appearance box. But if I was to step back and give myself advice, it would be to stand tall and never change YOU for anyone. What better way to stand tall than become the face of Proud Heathrow?”