Airline Set To Resume Flights From Luton As Soon As NEXT WEEK

Budget airline Wizz Air has announced they will be resuming a small number of flights from Luton Airport in early May. The airline industry has been in financial turmoil for several months and small budget airlines have been the first out of the shadows to try and regain some normality.

This is unprecedented as the airline is the first in Europe to resume services post Covid-19 pandemic. The airline industry has been forced to a standstill by government regulations with travel restrictions sweeping across Europe in tandem with the spread of the virus.

Whilst some airlines have halted operations altogether some approached it by cancelling a large section of flights but leaving some open. It’s been necessary to keep some flights going as the government attempts to repatriate citizens of the UK who are stranded abroad on the wrong side of a travel ban.

However flights for leisure have all but vanished.

In order to ensure the health and safety of passengers new health and safety measures will be ut in place before continuing operations. It’s hard to imagine how else Wizz airlines could return to regular flights.

Owain Jones who is managing director of the company said health and safety is paramount.

“As we restart selected Luton flights to provide an essential service to passengers who need to travel, our primary concern is the health, safety and well-being of our customers and crew.

"The protective measures that we are implementing will ensure the most sanitary conditions possible.

"We encourage our customers to watch our new video on how to stay safe when travelling, as well as for more details on our new health and safety measures."

Cabin crew will be made to wear hygiene masks and gloves as a mandatory protocol to help prevent unneeded spread of the virus and will be distributing sanitary wipes to all customers.

The air crafts will also be disinfected each day to try and further bolster the defence lines against covid-19.

Check-ins will be done primarily online to avoid human contact and if successful Wizz could be somewhat of a pioneer in how to handle the safety of passengers during a pandemic such as this.

If customers wish to purchase things in-flight then they will be encouraged to use a contactless form of payment. Spain and Portugal will be included in possible locations for the new resuming flights. l.

There will also be a limited number of passengers per flight to help maintain social distancing whilst 30,000 feet in the air.

Josef Varadi (Wizz Air chief executive) told Travel Weekly that “The industry will have to address physical distancing. In the first few months planes will not be filled”. He was also quoted stating around 10% of the flights would resume by Friday.