All customers flying with Blue Islands and Aurigny will now be required to wear face masks as part of new safety protocols introduced by the airlines.
The new measures come into force following guidance from the States of Guernsey, Jersey Government, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
‘Some of our measures are immediately obvious to passengers such as being offered hand sanitiser on boarding and the withdrawal of our inflight service. However, we wanted to inform our passengers of the further, enhanced procedures we have activated behind the scenes. These include Microbe Shield spray for long lasting bonded surface protection in the cabin and aircraft touch point sanitation procedures,’ said Rob Veron, Blue Islands CEO.
‘Further to this and following specific Covid-19 guidance from aircraft manufacture ATR, our aircraft are now configured so cabin air is not recirculated, it is continuously replenished with fresh air every 5 – 7 minutes. Therefore cabin may be slightly cooler than normal and passengers may wish to have a jumper to hand.’
But Islands has also introduced seat allocation to maximise distance between passengers, and on-board literature has been removed, with the exception of safety cards.
With face masks now mandatory, seating capacity on Aurigny aircraft will now increase.
‘This is good news especially for inter-island Bailiwick travel between Guernsey and Alderney, which has seen increased demand. Aurigny will continue to operate with the highest hygiene measures in place and our aircraft will continue to have regular deep cleans,’ said an Aurigny spokesperson.
With only a limited supply of masks available at the airports, passengers are being asked to supply their own. Customers not wearing masks at the departure gate will be denied boarding and will not be able to travel, and masks should be worn until they leave the airport at their destination. Only children, six years old and younger, and those with a medical exemption are excluded from this requirement.