As travelers aim for the sky again, we take a look at some airlines that are doing their best to put customer service and safety first.

British Airways

Safety is at the heart of British Airways’ business and the airline has introduced a range of measures to keep its customers safe.  These measures, as indicated below aim to help and manage the wellness of everyone traveling.

• Online check-in where passengers download their boarding pass and where possible self-scan their boarding pass at departure gates.
• Observing social distancing and the use of hand sanitizers that are placed throughout airports.
• Wearing a face mask at all times and bringing enough to replace them every four hours for longer flights.
• Asking customers not to travel if they think they have any symptoms of Covid-19.
• A new food service, which reduces the number of interactions required between staff and customers.
• The airline is cleaning all key surfaces including seats, screens, seat buckles and tray tables after every flight and each aircraft is completely cleaned from nose to tail every day. The air on all flights is fully recycled once every two to three minutes through filters that are equivalent to hospital operating theatre standards.

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines has increased health and safety protocols that passengers can expect while flying. The airline’s commitment to keeping passengers safe include employee testing to identify any infections quickly giving them time to recover at home and reduce exposure to others.  Delta Air Lines’ commitment to customer safety are listed below.

• Face masks or face covering must be worn by passengers and staff.
• To reduce the number of people on board, the airline will block middle seats until the end of September.
• On board all flights there is enhanced cleaning procedures. These include disinfectant electrostatic spraying on their aircraft, sanitizing high-touch areas before each flight and cleaning the toilets more frequently in flight.

Emirates

Emirates customers can travel with confidence, knowing the airline will cover medical expenses and quarantine costs per day for 14 days, should they be diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel.

First in aviation industry to offer free Covid-19 cover

Emirates has worked hard to put safety measures in place at every step for their customers journey and are the first in the aviation industry to offer free global cover for Covid-19 medical expenses and quarantine costs.

This cover is offered by Emirates to customers free of charge regardless of class of travel or destination. This cover is effective for customers flying on Emirates until 31 October 2020. It is valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first sector of their journey. This means Emirates customers can continue to benefit from the added assurance of this cover, even if they travel onwards to another city after arriving at their Emirates destination.

Customers do not need to register or fill in any forms before they travel, and they are not obligated to utilise this cover provided by Emirates. Any customer who may be diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel has to simply contact a dedicated hotline to get assistance and cover.

Distribution of complimentary hygiene kits

Health and safety measures implemented by Emirates for customers and employees include the distribution of complimentary hygiene kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes to all customers.

Ethiopian Airlines

With the easing of travel restrictions across the globe, Ethiopian Airlines has programs in place that ensure customer wellness. The programs focus on safeguarding the health and safety of staff and travellers throughout the service chain from first interaction up to arrival at destination.

Facemasks are mandatory for travel except children under the age of two; customers must keep their masks on throughout their journey.  All customer-facing staff wear personal protective equipment. This includes ticket offices, airport and lounge staff, as well as cabin crew. On board service is redesigned to minimize contact; items such as magazines, menus and other reading materials will not be available.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways offers customers the service of a Wellness Ambassador on board every flight. This is in support of their Covid-19 risk assessment tool for passengers. The tool, created in partnership with a healthcare technology company, consists of 22 questions and takes five minutes to complete.

The questions are based on World Health Organisation guidelines and are updated daily. The aim of the tool is to make passengers aware of their individual probability of having contracted the virus before they travel.

More space between travelers

Keeping passengers safe is priority to Etihad Airways, so they’ve made changes on board and at the airport, as mentioned below to make sure that there’s more space between travelers.

• Refreshed cabins with new seat covers and carpets.
• Aircraft is equipped with air filters which capture 99% of airborne microbes.
• They deep clean and sanitise all aircraft on arrival at each destination.
• Teams wear face masks and personal protective equipment at all times.
• There is additional deep cleaning and sanitisation at every point of travel.
• Customers must wear a face mask while traveling and wash hands at regular intervals.
• Wellness kits are available on board for all guests, including a face mask, gloves and hand gel.
• A refreshed meal service means all food prepared goes through vigorous testing, and is served in line with strict COVID-19 guidelines.
• Transfer buses, coaches and cars are deep-cleaned and sanitised after every trip.

Kenya Airways

Kenya Airways has worked in earnest to implement extensive safety measures and protocols for customers. Their number one priority is the safety of their customers and staff.  The following measures have been put in place to maintain the highest levels of safety, security and hygiene:

• Activation of a crisis management protocol to proactively address situations as they arise and implement appropriate actions.
• Working closely with both local and global health authorities, as well as following guidelines to protect customers’ well-being.
• Stopped issuing headsets for use across all flights. This is to support other efforts that minimise person-to -person transmission of communicable diseases.
• Enhanced cleaning and sanitizing procedures in all aircraft before a flight. These procedures cover seat armrests, seat pockets, headrests, tray tables, seatbelts, galleys, overhead luggage compartments, windows, carpets and lavatories.
• Increased the frequency of layover cleaning of aircraft from once every fourteen days to once every seven days.
• Availed hand sanitizers in all aircraft, offices and other service areas.
• Availed personal protective equipment to our staff based on the level of risk they are exposed to in their respective workstations.
• Provided training and sensitizing of crew and staff on various measures to ensure they protect themselves.
• Ensure all cabin groomers wear personal protective equipment.
• Encourage hand washing and healthy hygiene practices among staff and stakeholders.
• Use disposable hand towels on all classes of travel.
• Installed high efficiency particulate air filtration systems in all aircraft to clean the air during flights.
• Replaced all blankets, linen, pillow covers and headrest covers with fresh sets.

The airline will continuously review their safety measures and protocols and update them where necessary.

KLM

Safety remains paramount to KLM so they have measures in place to ensure that flights are safe for both passengers and staff. For example, face masks are mandatory when boarding and during flights, there is extra hygiene equipment on board, and the aircraft are cleaned extra thoroughly. The air on board is quickly refreshed using certified filters. The most important measures are listed below.

Seat Blocking

Wherever possible, KLM works on the basis of the general guideline of the ‘social distance’ of 1.5 meters. In practice, this means as much space as possible is created around passengers by keeping seats empty.

Service on board

One of the most important principles of KLM is to ensure the safety of passengers and crew so they have minimized contact moments between crew and passengers. The offer of catering has therefore been simplified.

Hygiene on board

On board, the crew wears mouth caps and protective gloves. There is extra hygiene equipment on board, such as hand sanitizers, and on every flight a toilet is kept free exclusively for the crew. This gives them unrestricted access to a place where they can look after themselves and wash their hands. KLM’s aircraft are additionally cleaned using suitable cleaning agents. The air on board the aircraft is drier and is rapidly refreshed along highly efficient filters to filter the air of potentially harmful particles and viruses.

Before and after boarding the plane

Safe travel is the highest priority to KLM, for this reason before and after boarding, a mix of measures is in place. These include communication about ‘social distance’ at check-in, gates, service and transfer desks. Custom boarding processes have also been set up, such as boarding in smaller groups. KLM also conducts passenger screenings on a number of flights.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa is offering passengers arriving at Frankfurt and Munich airports tests for Covid-19 at a cost. This will help passengers ‘avoid being quarantined’ because results are usually available within four to five hours after testing and are linked to the customer’s flight ticket. This also makes it easier for customers to travel safely to other countries worldwide that accept a certified corona test to avoid quarantine. Individuals receive their result via an app link.

Lufthansa has taken a number of measures to protect customers and employees. Passengers are currently only allowed to carry one piece of hand luggage. On long haul flights, Lufthansa recommend passengers take along several masks so that they can switch if necessary once they get damp.

Disinfectant wipes

Passengers may also take hand sanitizer if they wish, but must be sure to adhere to the regulations for traveling with liquids in carry-on luggage.  Upon boarding, the airline provides passengers with disinfectant wipes and request that only these be the ones used for cleaning the surfaces in and around your seat.

Face masks and hand sanitizers

Customers must wear a face mask at all times while at the airport and use hand sanitizers that are available. For greater disinfectant measures the airline strongly recommends passenger to check in via their digital and mobile services.

Contact less self-service

Baggage drop-off is now provided for on a contactless basis at self-service kiosks and according to new aviation security passengers are currently only allowed to carry one piece of hand luggage. Contactless boarding is also in place; customers, in groups are requested to wait until their boarding group is called and then use the automatic boarding gates.

Excellent air quality

Lufthansa cabins are thoroughly cleaned before and after each flight and their air filters supply a complete exchange of fresh air approximately every three minutes. The resulting excellent air quality, in combination with a face mask, offers so much protection.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has increased its health and safety measures on board by introducing new personal protective equipment for customers and cabin crew. The airline’s additional robust measures include offering face shields and protective kits to all passengers, in addition to a new protective gown for cabin crew.

The disposable face shield is available in two standard sizes, one for adults and the other for children. The children’s face shields feature the airline’s Oryx Kids Club mascots as part of their design. Some passengers will receive their face shields at check-in counters and some via distribution at boarding gates.

On-board, all passengers will receive a complimentary protective kit. Inside a ziplock pouch they will find a single-use surgical face mask, large disposable powder-free gloves and an alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel.

Highest levels of hygiene

To ensure the highest levels of hygiene on board, Economy Class passengers are required to wear their face shield visor in addition to their face mask or covering throughout the flight, except when they are served their meals or drinks. Business Class customers are asked to wear their face shield and mask on board at their own discretion, as they enjoy more space and privacy.

The airline has also applied other additional health and safety measures on board its flights. Business Class meals are served covered on a tray instead of a table set up, and a cutlery wrap is offered to passengers as an alternative to individual cutlery service, in an effort to minimise contact between crew and passengers. Qatar Airways has also introduced single-use menu cards and sealed refreshing wipes. Economy Class meals and cutlery are served sealed as usual, and menu cards have been temporarily discontinued. All social areas on board the aircraft have been closed adhering to the social distancing measures.

The most advanced air filtration systems

Qatar Airways’ aircraft are regularly disinfected and feature the most advanced air filtration systems, equipped with industrial-size filters that remove 99.97% of viral and bacterial contaminants from re-circulated air, providing the most effective protection against infection.

All the linen and blankets are washed, dried and pressed at microbial lethal temperatures and headsets are rigorously sanitised after each flight. These items are then sealed into individual packaging by staff wearing hygienic disposable gloves.

In addition all passenger touch points are sanitized every 10-15 minutes and every boarding gate and bus gate counter is cleaned after each flight. Accordingly, hand sanitizers are provided at immigration and security screening points.