Ryanair Holdings PLC is to institute temperature checks, require masks and prohibit lining up for toilets to reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19 when flights return on July 1.
Toilets are to be made available on request, Ryanair said yesterday in a statement.
The Irish low-cost carrier, which has grounded its fleet since late March, plans to restart with about 40 percent of its normal flight schedules, it said.
Photo: AFP
The comeback is dependent on government restrictions being lifted on flights within Europe. While the European Commission is preparing recommendations for removing border controls, there are signs that the reopening would be bumpy.
Within the EU, each nation sets its own rules on re-entry.
The UK, which just left the bloc, but remains a major hub for flights in the region, plans a 14-day quarantine on incoming travelers, which executives have decried as tantamount to a ban.
Ryanair chief executive officer Michael O’Leary has railed against state-aid plans and this week challenged a French bailout of Air France-KLM.
Ryanair said it would restart flights from most of its bases, and would offer seats starting from 20 euros (US$21.60) one-way.
Service would feature fewer checked bags, online check-ins and boarding passes downloadable to smartphones, it said.
The UK plan casts doubt on a reopening plan of numerous European airlines that had planned to restart travel in coming months.
The International Air Transport Association has called for a coordinated approach to reopening in Europe, while acknowledging the challenges given that different countries have different infection rates.
The EU recommendations, due today, are part of a “tourism package” of non-binding guidelines and the like covering everything from health measures to travel vouchers.
EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager last week told lawmakers that digital contact tracing apps might “enable at least some traveling during the summer.”
Meanwhile, airlines have added more seats back to their flight schedules this week, led by China and even increases in Hong Kong, suggesting that the industry is starting to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic, OAG Aviation Worldwide said.
Airlines globally added a net 600,000 seats to reach a total of almost 30 million, up about 2 percent from the previous week, OAG senior analyst John Grant wrote in a report.
That is still a long way off the weekly capacity of about 110 million seats this time last year, but it is an encouraging sign nonetheless.
Northeast Asia is a bright spot. China added 1 million seats to schedules this week, including 800,000 on domestic routes, and is now operating twice as many seats as the US.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) added 40,000 seats and increased frequency by about 120 flights, Grant said.
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