British Airways, Delta/KLM, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airlines have been adjudicated as among the top 20 world’s most ‘Covid-compliant’ airlines by airline safety ratings agency Airlineratings.com.
The website surveyed 430 airlines for Covid-19 compliance. For full compliance airlines must have seven criteria in place: website information on COVID19 procedures; face masks for passengers; personal protection equipment for the crew; modified meal service; deep clean of aircraft, personal sanitizer kit, and social distancing onboarding. According to the website’s editor, Geoffrey Thomas, the list is made up of airlines have gone above and beyond in the protection of passengers or in adding greater flexibility to travel.
“All these airlines have been trendsetters in making travel as safe as possible,” Mr. Thomas said. “For instance, Qatar Airways has provided face shields as well as masks and Emirates introduce COVID-19 health insurance and an individual health kit.”
The full list, in alphabetical order, is: 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 and Westjet.
Although most airlines have aggressively implemented a Covid-19 action plan and 119 of the surveyed airlines the highest rating of seven stars, Mr Thomas said it was disappointing to see that 117 get a zero for compliance, or have no information for the public on their COVID policies on their website.”
Mr Thomas also outlined other initiatives airlines might take to improve their Covid compliance, including “a phone APP with vaccination details, COVID-19 free test, and passport all in one.”
