Here’s what flying’s going to look like when airlines are back

Local budget airline FlySafair has begun planning for the day – hopefully not too far in the future – when passengers will again want to fly to destinations around South Africa.

Being mindful, though, that a form of social distancing may still be required for some time to come and that people could be nervous to fly, the airline has unveiled a number of passenger safety protocols.

“It’s essential to us that we put responsible measures in place to ensure that we do our part to protect our customers and our teams, while limiting potential spread of the virus”, said spokesperson Kirby Gordon.

 “These measures do come at a cost, and FlySafair will be adding a R20 COVID-19 fee to each flight, a small price to pay to know that no stone was left unturned when it comes to ensuring passenger health and safety.”

The new passenger safety protocols are as follows:

Deep-cleaning evenings

Aircraft cabins are deep cleaned every evening. Aircraft crew then treat them with a specialised, aviation-grade detergent sanitiser which is highly effective in combatting bad bugs such as the coronavirus. 

Temperature checks

Every person on an aircraft, crew and customers, will have their temperature checked before boarding. Anyone with a temperature over 38°C will not be permitted to board. FlySafair teams are equipped with contactless digital thermometers which are also available to monitor customer temperatures during flight should someone start to feel ill.

Mandatory masks

Masks will be mandatory for the duration of the flight. The airline will provide all staff and passengers with sanitised masks, sealed for protection, before boarding. To avoid contamination, the airline urges that passengers discard mask packaging in the bins provided before boarding.

Disinfectant foggers between flights

Between flights, FlySafair will conduct an efficient spring clean of the cabins, using aircraft grade antibacterial and antiviral steriliser, with special focus on common touch areas.

No touch necessary

The airline has implemented a strict no-touch policy to avoid direct contact between their teams and customers. Customers are encouraged to use mobile or WhatsApp boarding passes. Customers must scan their own documents and present IDs without handing anything to a team member. 

To prevent contamination across shared surfaces, there will be no catering on flights and instead of magazines for inflight reading, customers are encouraged to download digital copies of the InFlight magazine into their personal devices before boarding.

Keeping hands clean

Upon boarding, each passenger will be required to clean their hands with hand sanitiser. Additional sanitiser will be available upon request and toilets are stocked with hospital-grade sanitary soap.

Carefully controlled air quality

All aircraft are equipped with sophisticated air recycling systems that completely renew the cabin air every few minutes. This system operates across blocks of seat rows, ensuring all parts of the aircraft receive the same quality of fresh air simultaneously, and employs filters that successfully remove 99.999% of even the smallest viruses, including those measuring just 0.01 micrometres (the coronavirus family measures between 0.08 and 0.16 micrometres).

Social-distancing seats

As a policy FlySafair will fill window and aisle seats before allocating passengers to middle seats. Customers also have the opportunity to employ a further degree of social distancing during their journey by selecting the new ‘blocked seat’ option when booking on the website, which will keep the middle seat in your row free.