As the vaccine for Covid-19 rolls out and the prospect of cross-border travels comes close to opening up again, the aviation industry is in the final legs of preparing to take to the skies once more. This covers increased cabin disinfections, equipping staff with the right skills and tools to stay safe and vigorous training to put in place SOPs for safe interactions and travels.
Airlineratings.com, the world’s only safety, product and Covid-19 rating agency, recently released its list of top 20 airlines deemed safest in accordance to their compliance with Covid-19 SOPs covering the above mentioned.
According to the editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas, these airlines were ranked based on how far they went in ensuring protection of passengers or adding flexibility to travel. He said, “All these airlines have been trendsetters in making travel as safe as possible.”
Qatar Airways is among those notable for providing face shields as well as masks and Emirates stands out for introducing Covid-19 health insurance and individual health kits for its flyers.
The website surveyed 430 airlines for their respective Covid-19 compliance up of these seven criteria: website information on Covid-19 proceudres, face masks for passengers, personal protection equipment for the crew, modified meal service, deep clean of aircrafts, personal sanitiser kits and social distancing onboarding.
“We review compliance on a weekly basis and update the website accordingly,” Mr. Thomas said. “Most major airlines have aggressively implemented a COVID-19 action plan and we have been surprised at how quickly some have achieved full compliance,” adds Thomas. “Moving forward airlines are looking at more initiatives, be it better cleaning systems or more flexibility to make changes to bookings. Next on the horizon for passengers will be a phone APP with vaccination details, COVID-19 free test, and passport all in one.”
In alphabetical order, here are the top 20 Covid-19 compliant airlines in the world:
Air Baltic
Air New Zealand
Alaska Airlines
All Nippon Airways
AirAsia
British Airways
Cathay Pacific Airways
Delta Air Lines
Emirates
Etihad Airways
Eva Air
Japan Airlines
Jetblue
KLM
Korean Airlines
Lufthansa
Singapore Airlines
Southwest
Qatar Airways
Westjet
The website states that 119 airlines have achieved the highest COVID-19 rating of seven stars at the time of publish but it also noted that 117 get a zero for compliance, or have no information for the public on their COVID policies on their website.
(Source: Airlineratings.com)