Introduction

All Passengers are required to read and confirm their acceptance of our Covid-19 policy by signature in advance of the flight.

As part of our stated commitment to ensure Health and Safety for our passengers, we have made a few changes to your travel experience. During these unprecedented times we have reviewed our processes and upgraded cleaning measures to protect you. 

We have been working with industry partners and following best practice guidance to ensure the highest standards of health and safety, not only onboard but throughout the customer journey. following is a list of changes and recommendations to keep you safe from the time you enter the airport, whilst onboard and upon arrival at your destination.

Before arriving at the airport

Passengers must ensure they check the latest travel requirements, advisories and restrictions of the countries and airports they are travelling to, as these maybe subject to change

passenger who may have COVID-19-compatible symptoms should not go to the airport. If thermal screening (skin temperature check) is performed at the airport according to national regulations, passengers who have made a false statement and are identified as symptomatic at the airport by the national public health authorities may be refused permission to continue their journey.

Passengers shall be advised to allow enough time for their journey to the airport, taking into considerations, security checks and other additional measures that may be in place at the airport.

Management of Passengers

Follow all airport communication and policies as instructed. Passengers who refuse to adhere to the preventive measures in place should be refused access to the airport’s terminal building, the aircraft cabin, or disembarked, if the event takes place before the aircraft doors are closed, and removed from the airport premises by the competent authorities according to national/local legislation. as determined by the local authorities at the departure airport.

Passengers are reminded that the 1.5-metre physical distance between individuals should be maintained as much as possible wherever feasible, especially during check-in, security checks, pre-boarding, and boarding.

Passengers are instructed on the procedures for the safe and hygienic disposal of used face masks: no-touch bins should be available at the airport, and waste bags should be available on board and during disembarkation.

The use of face masks by passengers, during boarding, throughout the flight and disembarkation is now mandatory. It is being recommended that the mask is also kept on within the airport building, before and during check-in, upon arrival, when collecting baggage, and up to the point that a passenger leaves the airport building. An exemption to wearing a face mask can be made for instances where it is otherwise specified, such as during security checks or identification control.

All passengers are required to acquire their own face masks prior to travelling and ensure they have a sufficient supply of masks adequate for the entire duration of their journey. It is recommended that masks are replaced after being worn for 4 hours or when becoming wet or soiled. 

It is understood that masks or face coverings will need to be removed for eating and drinking. This is permitted, necessary and safe. Limiting the duration that the covering is removed will help minimize any potential risk of exposure.

Some passengers, such as those with breathing difficulties or other medical conditions may not be able to tolerate the use of face coverings or masks for a lengthy period, if at all. Customers are being asked to notify our passenger handling staff of such exceptions, for cabin crew to be able take reasonable steps to protect other passengers, e.g. by creating a safe separation on-board.

Children under the age of 6 are exempt from using a face mask.

All masks and face coverings shall be removed during an emergency situation which requires the use of oxygen. Passengers are to be reminded of this requirement during the pre-flight safety briefing. 

All passengers will be required to submit a health declaration form prior to receiving their boarding card, ideally before their arrival at the airport, but no longer than 24 hours in advance of a flight.

All passengers will be required to provide contact details to enable contact tracing. 

In order to expedite the boarding and disembarkation procedure, reduce passenger movement and therefore potential contamination in the cabin, the amount of hand luggage allowed into the cabin will be reduced. Passengers will be allowed the smaller personal items such as laptop bags, whilst other baggage will be placed in the hold.

Symptoms

Patients with confirmed 2019-nCoV infection have experienced mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath. These symptoms are very similar to those of the common flu and influenza.

A communicable disease is suspected when a traveller passenger has a fever (temperature 38C/100F or greater) associated with one or more of the following signs or symptoms:

• Appearing obviously unwell

• Persistent coughing

• Impaired breathing

• Persistent diarrhoea

• Persistent vomiting

• Skin rash

• Bruising or bleeding without previous injury

• Confusion of recent onset 

The incubation period for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been found to be between 1 and 14 days, with a median incubation period of 5.1 days. 75% of cases have an incubation period longer than 4 days and only 2.5% of cases have an incubation period of less than 2 days. In this context, it is considered that, even if already in the incubation period, a person is most likely not contagious in the first 2 days after exposure.

Prevention & Measures

There is currently no vaccine to prevent 2019-nCoV infection. The most effective way to prevent infection is to avoid being exposed to this virus and to apply everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces with sanitising spray or wipes.

• Where a suspected passenger is identified on board before take-off has been initiated, the airport and local health authorities shall be informed, and their instructions shall be followed.

• are equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor (HEPA) filters, fitted in the cabin air recirculation systems. This filtration system has a similar performance to installations used in hospitals.

The airflow induced by the cabin recirculation fans is designed to assist in maintaining the correct cabin airflow pattern. The cabin conditioning air enters at the top of the cabin and leaves at floor level and is designed to prevent longitudinal airflow within the cabin. Importantly, the toilets and galley are areas where air is extracted and directed overboard without re-entering the cabin areas. The cabin air exchange rate is approximately once every 2 minutes with the use of recirculated air.

Passenger Locator Forms

Passengers will be requested to complete a passenger locator form. Passengers are to hand-over the form to airport personnel when passing through temperature screening on arrival.

Disembarkation

Physical distancing shall be observed as much as possible during disembarkation. When buses are used for the disembarkation process, an increased number of buses should be considered in order to accommodate passenger physical distancing inside them.

Thank-you for your support and co-operation in the implementation of these safety measures.

Kindly download and sign declaration form for each travelling passenger. The declaration form has to be shown at the airport at check-in.