As of Monday 11 May, wearing face protection when boarding and on board is mandatory for KLM passengers. Passengers are responsible for ensuring that they have the required facial protection with them. The cabin crew will of course also wear face protection.
KLM defines face protection as mouth-nose masks, such as surgical masks and non-medical masks. The masks must be large enough to completely cover the wearer's nose and mouth.
For the time being, the measure applies until 31 August 2020. Passengers who do not wear adequate face protection/mouth and nose masks may be refused boarding at the gate. Children under the age of 10 are exempt from the measure.
For airlines, flying during the corona crisis means that they have to operate under exceptional circumstances. The current situation calls for a series of measures that KLM is taking to conduct its operations as safely and healthily as possible for passengers and crew. The obligation to wear face protection is part of this. Aircraft are also cleaned more often and more thoroughly and contact moments between crew and passengers during the flight are kept to a minimum. Furthermore, passengers from risk areas must, for example, fill in a health declaration to assess whether they are fit enough to fly.
The risk of contamination on board aircraft is also low. Modern aircraft are equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which ensure clean cabin air of high quality, with a high degree of air circulation. The air is replaced every three minutes by the aircraft's built-in air supply system. The airflow in the aircraft is from top to bottom, which further reduces the risk of 'horizontal' transmission in the cabin. In addition, the air flows quickly, which is not conducive to the spread of droplets. Furthermore, the passengers are all facing the same direction, so there is little face-to-face interaction, and the seats are a barrier to the transmission forward or back in the cabin.
Ladies and gentlemen boarding please, watch out, observe the 1.5 meter rule that we strictly apply in our country.
Less than a meter apart you will be fined €400!
Just sit there next to each other with a distance of 10 cm, put on a face mask and just breathe and cough with that air flow in this stuffy space.
The airflow that is transported by the aircraft is an airflow where the Corona bacteria are filtered out, previously the airflow was so dry and so dirty that you regularly arrived at your destination sick and with a cold, which has now been remedied with the new generation of HEPA filters.
These HEPA filters are intelligent HEPA filters, invented by the Dutch government, and intelligently capture only the harmful Corona particles from the air.
“But KLM staff, I don't want to sit 10 centimeters next to this person, this is just a Russian roulette ”
Don't complain, this person has just been scanned for temperature and has no increase, and what do you mean by Russian roulette, that has not been allowed in our country for 2 months, and can only be done again on September 1.
"What do you mean?"
Well, our government does not consider it safe to gather less than 1.5 meters, if you are less than a meter apart on a terrace (even if you sleep together) the terrace operator can get a huge fine.
Our government also says that we are no longer allowed to go to a location that promotes our health until September 1th.
This is a small part of our national rules, but you can just sit 10 cm next to that other person!
Ladies and gentlemen fasten your seatbelts, and have a good trip!
I have already set that the airfares will be as high as 2 because mandatory free seats between passengers, if they can just sit next to each other, that is positive. My idea of flying is what Emirates already did and now read more often that the passenger is tested for antibodies, results within 10 minutes. If you have antibodies, you have already had the virus and you can fly, the same you can fly if you have no symptoms. We just have to make sure that most people become immune because there is no escape as long as there is no vaccine. I look beyond the current situation, eventually the vast majority will become infected and build up antibodies, which is why you already see that many countries are already opening because the medical care of corona patients is under control and manageable. A good example of all this is Switzerland, which even opened up the bars and restaurants and sports centers again yesterday, cozy up behind the bar with 1,5 distance.