Tina is standing in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport with her one-and-a-half year old daughter, on her way home to Kinshasa from London. “The flight was full, no seats between us and other people,” said the 30-year-old. “They didn’t take our temperature and that worried me.”
Most carriers and airports insist on face masks for passengers and staff, as well as provide hand sanitizers and conduct deeper cabin cleaning. The industry has been keen to reassure passengers that air travel is safe. “It’s pretty obvious it’s a cataclysmic situation” for the whole industry, Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, told the Financial Times.
On top of the health measures, many carriers believe lower fares will stimulate demand. Jozsef Varadi, chief executive at Wizz Air, a low-cost airline, thinks demand is already there — the carrier started flying again to some locations from the start of May. Its planes are 70 to 75 per cent full. “It’s better than most people would have expected,” he said.
U.S. carriers United and American Airlines have come under fire after passengers tweeted pictures of packed planes. United had emailed to say it would automatically block middle seats. It later admitted it could not guarantee passengers will be seated next to empty seats on all flights. Budget carrier Frontier Airlines tried asking customers to pay at least US$39 to sit next to an empty seat, only to drop the fee days later after criticism for crisis profiteering.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency guidelines said when physical distancing of 1.5 metres was not possible, because of infrastructure or operational constraints, carriers and airport operators should implement additional risk-mitigation measures such as hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.