Face masks and all bags in the hold: Government sets out air travel advice
The Department for Transport has today laid out plans for safe aviation travel, setting out measures airlines and airports should implement to protect passengers.
In line with other forms of public transport, passengers are told to wear face masks on planes and in airports, and are also encouraged to check all bags including hand luggage into aircraft holds.
It also said that passengers should wash their hands after touching any surfaces and remain seated as much as possible on flights.
Operators are asked to implement increased cleaning of aircraft, as well as increasing the availability of handwashing facilities and reducing face-to-face interaction with passengers.
However, the government is not currently advising airports to use temperature screening technology, saying that scientific evidence said it was not effective.
Several airports have announced plans to introduce the measure, including Heathrow, which has already started trialling systems.
Ryanair also hit back at the government’s advice to minimise hand luggage, describing it as “nonsensical”.
A spokesperson said: “The DfT should stop issuing rubbish advice to passengers about baggage and instead focus their efforts on scrapping the UK’s useless visitor quarantine which the UK Home Office now admit cannot be implemented, supervised or policed effectively”.
Ryanair has told its passengers to minimise checked-in bags in order to reduce the risk of multiple people handling items of luggage.
The new guidance suggests that the government is now planning to restart commercial aviation, although incoming passengers to England currently face having to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “Today’s guidance is a positive next step towards ensuring a safer and more sustainable aviation sector.
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“The government’s advice currently remains to avoid all non-essential travel, but today we are taking the necessary steps to ensure a framework is in place for the aviation industry to bounce back when it is safe for restrictions on travel to be lifted”.
The government has confirmed that it is looking at introducing targeted air bridges to low-risk countries in order to begin opening the UK up again.
Airlines have pushed for the UK to drop the blanket quarantine plan as soon as possible, warning that thousands of jobs could be lost if not.
This morning Heathrow Airport announced it would begin consulting on frontline redundancies after passenger numbers flatlined.
It also called for Westminster to follow the Scottish and Northern Irish legislatures in providing a business rates exemption for airports in England and Wales.
Tim Hawkins, chief strategy officer at Manchester Airports Group, said that the measures provided “the basis for the restart and recovery of the UK aviation industry”.
He added: “With similar protocols being adopted in other countries, and a targeted approach to reopening travel to low-risk countries, we will have the elements in place to get our economy moving again and protect jobs throughout the whole aviation supply chain”.