- Özgür Töre
AirAsia Group is ready to fly with its operating crew and frontline staff 100% vaccinated, alongside numerous contactless safety and hygiene measures in place to ensure the highest standards are maintained ahead of a resumption of air travel, expected in the near future.
“We are ready to fly and as part of our strict safety policy we are mandating that all of our operating crew and frontline staff serving guests, including pilots, cabin crew and airport staff are fully vaccinated to return to work,'' said Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
“We’ve always been about the people and it doesn’t just stop with our own Allstars (employees). With stringent health and hygiene protocols and robust standard operating procedures, guests can be assured of a 360 degree peace of mind when travelling with us again.
“The acceleration of vaccines in all of our key markets is setting us up for a strong return to the skies. More than 50% of the adult population in Malaysia is now fully vaccinated, and Malaysia is tracking to have at least 80% of its population vaccinated by the end of 2021. We are also seeing promising progress in Singapore, Korea and the Philippines.”
“More than 50 countries in the world have begun to welcome vaccinated travellers again. As Asean accelerates the vaccination effort, we are hopeful that countries will soon ease travel restrictions for vaccinated travellers for both domestic and international travel and will resume plans for travel bubbles.
“Thanks to vaccines being aggressively rolled out in all of our key markets, better testing and education, the end is in sight and I’m hopeful we will be able to return to the skies in coming weeks. Importantly, we are fully prepared and ready for take off.”
Safety of staff and guests is always the top priority for AirAsia Group, which was one of the first airlines worldwide to achieve the top 7/7 rating for being Covid-19 safe by the aviation experts at Airlineratings.com. All of the airlines in the Group are IOSA accredited which is the global benchmark for upholding the highest safety standards at all times. Furthermore, the airline has used the downtime in flying to implement robust procedures and innovations to make flying even safer and more hygienic than ever.
To ensure minimal physical interaction and processing time at the airport, guests are now encouraged to do self check-in online via the airasia super app platform and to use automated bag drop facilities to avoid fees for using a check in desk agent. AirAsia also provides numerous digital payment options and accepts mobile boarding passes at all airports it operates to.
A new check in feature enables guests to verify any required medical documents in real time online before heading to the airport and the airline Group is in the process of rolling out biometric facial recognition technology at key ports commencing with klia2 in the near future.
AirAsia will have its check in system via the airasia super app integrated with the Malaysian government’s MySejahtera digital health app to enable a seamless and hassle-free check in procedure.
Pilots go through regular recurrent training and aircraft are well maintained. Flight and ground crew have been strictly trained to ensure the safety and wellbeing of guests at all times.
Furthermore, HEPA filters on all AirAsia aircraft provide hospital grade airflow and the vertical downward air circulation in the cabin further prohibits the risk of any infection during flying.
“With all the uncertainties Covid-19 has provided, one thing I am sure of is that we will return to the skies soon with a more robust and viable business model which isn’t solely reliant on airfares alone as our digital transformation to become the Asean super app of choice is now fast becoming a reality,” added Tan Sri Tony.
To access a range of great value travel and lifestyle offerings from AirAsia Group, including online check in services and more, guests are encouraged to download the airasia super app before they fly, via the Apple App Store, Google Play Store or Huawei AppGallery.
