Airlineratings.com, the world’s only safety, product, and COVID-19 rating agency has named its Top Twenty airlines for COVID-19 compliance.
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.
According to Airlineratings.com, Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas these airlines have gone above and beyond in the protection of passengers or in adding flexibility to travel.
“Äll these airlines have been trendsetters in making travel as safe as possible,” Mr Thomas said.
“For instance, Qatar Airways has provided face shields as well as masks and Emirates introduce COVID-19 health insurance and an individual health kit.”
“Our website, which was first with COVID-19 ratings, surveys 430 airlines for COVID-19 compliance and we have found that many airlines have changed their policies to achieve the highest ranking on our website.”
“Now 119 airlines achieve the highest COVID-19 rating of seven stars 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,” Mr Thomas said.
For full compliance airlines must have seven criteria in place: website information on COVID19 procedures; face masks for passengers; personal protection equipment for the crew; modified meal service; deep clean of aircraft, personal sanitiser kit, and social distancing onboarding.
“We review compliance on a weekly basis and update the website accordingly,” Mr Thomas said.
“Most major airlines have aggressively implemented a COVID-19 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.”
“Next on the horizon for passengers will be a phone APP with vaccination details, COVID-19 free test, and passport all in one,” Mr Thomas said.
