Le decontamination is gathering pace in Europe, with many EU countries announcing the gradual lifting of restrictions that have brought travel to a complete standstill for over two months. L'Italy announced the return of travellers on 3 June, the country being the first not to ask for certificates of non-contamination, contenting itself with a declaration on honour and monitoring of travellers. Belgium and Portugal will also reopen their borders from 15 June, following the recommendations of the European Union, which wants Europeans in the Schengen area to be able to travel freely again. At the same time "travel bubbles or travel 'clusters'. Finland and its three counterparts in the Baltic States are authorising travel, as is Germany with Luxembourg and the Netherlands, while Denmark wants to create a "bubble" with Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Norway and Sweden. There is also talk of a similar travel corridor agreement between the France and GermanyThe latter has partly eased restrictions for cross-border commuters and people with family on either side of the Rhine. Visit rail traffic service has already resumed since 11 May on the Paris-Sarrebruck-Frankfurt and Paris-Strasbourg-Karlsruhe-Stuttgart routes. Deutsche Bahn is announcing further resumptions at the beginning of June, notably with the probable end of controls between the two countries.
The airlines are preparing for the recovery. At the end of last week, Luxembourg's national carrier Luxair announced that it would be resuming flights to five destinations on 29 May, while Eurowings will be adding some forty destinations from Düsseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart from 1 June. But it's not just a question of restoring flight capacity. Hygiene and safety measures health security have become the passenger priorityThis was confirmed by a survey conducted by OAG at the end of April. In a survey of 2,000 people, 65% of respondents put hygiene at the top of their list of concerns. 44% named safety and hygiene on aircraft as the most effective measure to keep air passengers coming back; 21% named airport hygiene measures. Communication and marketing actions by airlines to stimulate the market were named by only 14% of those surveyed, while low fares were mentioned by only 10%.
It is therefore easy to understand why airlines now insist on highlighting their health safety measures. Air France, for example, communicates extensively on its "barrier measures", the obligation to wear a mask, the presence of hydro-alcoholic gels, the disinfection of aircraft after each flight and the filtered air, purified every three minutes to more than 99% of bacteria. The distancing on board, symbolised by the empty middle seathas generated some controversy. Last week, Iberia was confronted with complaints and a mini-revolt by passengers who refused to stay on a plane that was deemed too full. In practice, the neutralised middle seat has not been included in the measures taken by the European Union to ensure the safety of aircraft. It is more likely to be achieved by intelligent technology that allocates seats appropriately.
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In fact, according to the OAG survey, passengers seem to consider the neutralisation of the middle seat to be relatively effective. superfluousThis measure was only mentioned by 20% of those surveyed, far behind disinfecting aircraft between flights (87%), the temperature measurement using an airport thermal screen (59%) or the possibility of check-in and boarding formalities via an online application (54%).
One measure that is likely to be poorly accepted is the request by airlines to place all baggage in the hold - including cabin baggage - with the exception of essential accessories. This measure received only 14% of approval. A rapid Covid-19 test at the airport was approved by 38% of respondents. OAG also asked what the most likely impact of the new security measures would be on the way passengers travel. 28% of those surveyed believe that these new measures would make them more likely to choose direct flights at the expense of hubs18% thinking that this post-Covid-19 world should even challenge the hub model airlines, with 19% also expecting to pay more to travel. Only 10% of those surveyed believe that the low-cost model is under threat. To keep costs as low as possible, these airlines hope that airports will apply most of the health safety rules and take responsibility for only allowing passengers deemed fit to fly to board.
