Emirates staff to wear protective gear amid Covid-19 concerns

Dubai carrier Emirates is enhancing its precautionary measures at the airport and onboard its flights to ensure the safety of its employees and customers, it announced on April 21.

All cabin crew, boarding agents and ground staff, who come in direct contact with passengers, will now wear personal protective equipment (PPE).

The gear includes a protective disposable gown over their uniforms, and a safety visor, in addition to masks and gloves.

On board Emirates flights, seats are pre-allocated with empty seats placed between individual passengers or family groups in line with distancing protocols.

The carrier has also modified its inflight services for health and safety reasons.

Food and beverages continue to be offered in the form of bento-styled boxes to minimise contact between the crew and customers.

Similarly, to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus, magazines and other print reading material are temporarily unavailable.

Cabin baggage are currently not accepted on flights. Meanwhile, carry-on items allowed in the cabin are limited to laptop, handbag, briefcase or baby items.

All other items have to be checked in, and Emirates will add the cabin baggage allowance to customers’ check-in baggage allowance. Customers have to wear their masks and gloves throughout their journey from check-in until they disembark.

All Emirates aircraft will go through enhanced cleaning and disinfection processes in Dubai, after each journey.

Meanwhile, Dubai International Airport has made it mandatory upon all customers and employees to don gloves and masks while thermal scanners monitor the temperatures of all concerned entering the airport.

Physical distancing indicators have been placed on the ground and at waiting areas to help travelers maintain the necessary distance during check-in and boarding.

On April 15, the airline along with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) introduced a rapid Covid-19 testing initiative, in which all travellers departing on a flight from Dubai to Tunisia were subjected to a Covid-19 blood test at the group check-in area of Terminal 3. The airline plans to scale up its testing capabilities in the future.

Read: Emirates begins on-site rapid Covid-19 testing at Dubai airport

The UAE government announced on March 25 that it was temporarily suspending all passenger flights from the country as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

However, local airlines including Etihad Airways, Emirates, flydubai and Air Arabia have now started operating repatriation flights to select destinations.

Earlier this month, Emirates announced that will operate passenger services to Jakarta, Manila, Taipei, Chicago, Tunis, Algeria and Kabul,in addition to its ongoing operations to London and Frankfurt.

Read: Emirates announces passenger flights to more cities