RwandAir officials say they are confident demand
for air travel will gradually pick up as countries prepare to open up
borders and airlines finally resume operations after months of
suspension.
The national flag carrier will resume operations on
August 1, after nearly five months since the airline suspended
operations due to Covid-19 global epidemic.
Rwandair CEO Yvonne Makolo said bookings are already coming in.
“We are seeing, in terms of our forward bookings, demand
on different routes,” she told members of different media organizations
during a tour of the Kigali International Airport on Friday.
“The demand will grow gradually as passengers become more comfortable traveling during this pandemic,” she added.
Makolo admitted that there is a lot of anxiety among
passengers during this time, but the airline is putting in place
different measures to ensure that it is safe for passengers to travel.
“We have put all measures in place as directed by ICAO
[International Civil Aviation Organisation] and WHO [World Health
Organisation] to make sure that our passengers and staff are safe when
we resume operations,” she noted.
RwandAir will resume flights, starting with Africa
destinations and Dubai in the Middle East, before increasing frequencies
to other destinations as demand for air travel picks.
Flying will be different
The next time you are about to embark on a trip before
the world gets the vaccine for the Covid-19 virus, prepare to have a
whole different experience while flying on any aircraft.
Before flying, all passengers will have to show Covid-19
negative certificate, whether they are arriving, transiting or
departing from Rwanda.
Passengers on departure will respect all health safety
measures. Departing passengers from Kigali International Airport will be
guided by physical distancing signs scattered around the airport.
Sanitisers will be available at check-in desks,
counters, and passport control areas, while passengers will be welcomed
by thermal imaging cameras deployed around departure and arrival areas
to help identify people who may have Coronavirus.
Airport operators have put in place self-check in kiosks
that allows passengers to check-in themselves without physically
meeting ticketing agents. A passenger can spend less than a minute at
the kiosk.
Every check-in counter is equipped with a sanitiser so
that there’s no contamination through document handling, and counters
are protected with glass visors.
Seats at the waiting area will be marked to direct
passengers to leave a one-metre sit between every other passenger,
allowing them to respect health measures of physical distancing.
Arrival passengers will respect the same health safety measures.
Onboard
Onboard RwandAir aircraft, the crew will be wearing
personal protective equipment (PPE) – everything from gowns and goggles,
to facemasks and gloves.
The boarding process will be conducted in respect of
safety measures against Covid-19, and it will be conducted in small
groups, starting at the back of the plane all the way to the front.
“We’ve made sure that the aircraft is thoroughly cleaned (through disinfection) after each flight,” Makolo said.
The airline chief said all aircraft are fitted with
high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which ensure that all
the viruses and germs are extracted from the cabin to make sure that the
cabin air is safe to breath.
“We have also modified our menu onboard to try and avoid contact between our crew and the passengers,” she said.
The airline is also implementing a policy of one piece
of cabin luggage per passenger in order to avoid congestion on aisles
and people touching too many bags on board.
Many aviation experts say that physical distancing on
board does not make sense for airlines that want to make business during
the pandemic, and RwandAir officials admit it will be nearly
impossible.
“Physical distancing on board is very difficult,” she
noted. “At the beginning we expect the traffic to grow gradually, so
there will be enough space (in the beginning) to observe physical
distancing.”
All passengers will have their masks on throughout their
travel, and they will be encouraged to bring as many masks as possible
to change them after every four hours, especially those on long-haul
flights.
The aircraft will be constantly disinfecting surfaces to make sure they are clean.
According to Silas Udahemuka, the Director General
Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority, all eight foreign airlines that fly to
Kigali have applied to reopen operations.
These include Qatar Airways, Brussels Airlines, KLM,
Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airways, and Kenya’s
JamboJet, among others.
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