Aviation: Covid-secure airlines revealed - and some fly from Birmingham, UK

By Brett Gibbons, Birminham Live, 6 January, 2021. The world's most Covid-secure airlines have been revealed in a survey of around 430 carriers from around the globe.

Airlineratings.com has published a list of the top 20 airlines for Covid-19 compliance during the pandemic - and it includes several that operate from the UK's Birmingham Airport.

In alphabetical order, they are 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.

Airlines are measured in key areas, including:

Website information on Covid-19 procedures
Face masks for passengers
Personal protection equipment for the crew
Modified meal service
Deep clean of aircraft
Personal sanitiser kit
Social distancing onboarding.

Airlineratings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said many operators had gone above and beyond in the protection of passengers or in adding flexibility to travel.

He said: “All these airlines have been trendsetters in making travel as safe as possible. For instance, Qatar Airways has provided face shields as well as masks and Emirates introduce Covid-19 health insurance and an individual health kit.”

Image - Airbus

The website surveyed 430 airlines for Covid-19 compliance and found many airlines had changed policies to adapt amid the pandemic. Mr Thomas added: “Now 119 airlines achieve the highest Covid-19 rating but it is disappointing to see that 117 get a zero for compliance, or have no information for the public on their Covid policies on their website.

“Most major airlines have aggressively implemented a Covid action plan and we have been surprised at how quickly some have achieved full compliance.

“Moving forward airlines are looking at more initiatives, be it better cleaning systems or more flexibility to make changes to bookings.”

Mr Thomas added: “Next on the horizon for passengers will be a phone app with vaccination details, Covid-19 free test and passport all in one."