Avianca criticized for announcing changes to its aircraft disinfection

In the past hours, the airline in Colombia, Avianca, launched a wave of criticism after reporting this Its planes will not be cleaned after completing each flight as they used to, because in an indication of time and cost savings, the airline indicated that it will now be every five flights, It is a problem that has not been well received by its clients, as it is occurring in the midst of a growing number of coronavirus cases in the country.

Avianca has been putting a lot of effort into implementing biosecurity standards in its coronavirus service, such as the requirement to keep a mask on during the entire flight and to disinfect its planes at the end of each flight; However, the latter will be adjusted as the company seeks to reduce clearance costs.

The problem became known after they revealed the modifications to the Flight Operations Manual, which states:

In the first point, it is indicated that the instructions should be carried out only between the pilot and the head of the cabin, and should not exceed two minutes.

Second, it has been specified that cleaning will now take place every five flights, including the cockpit. however, If you need to clean the cockpit for any reason out of the ordinary, it should be requested by the cockpit crew.

According to Semana magazine, these modifications arrived Thursday, November 18, via email to airline workers.

As the media in Bogota have learned, the message is for the captains, to whom Avianca has announced that their planes will no longer be cleaned after each flight.

“The different operational times of the operation are a challenge to maintain the good operational indicators we have so far and with extensive aircraft consolidation and reconfiguration, which requires detailed work between regions to get better indicators, it is necessary, as of the date, to make adjustments to the joint briefing, photo missions and presentation While transiting Colombia’s domestic flights, maintain safety standards and comply with the minimum requirements issued by the health authorities in Resolution 777, He holds the mail the airline sent to his assistants.

This measure, which was not well accepted by the company’s clients, was not accepted by the workers, who, according to Semana, confirmed that Cleaning the aircraft is important not only to ensure the health safety of passengers but also the various members of the crew.

These arguments gain even more importance, with the realization that at the moment the country is going through an increase in coronavirus cases, as positive cases are starting to show an upward curve.

In other news from the airline in the past hours I was informed that the opening of the London – Bogotá road will be from 2022.

After the United Kingdom announced the lifting of restrictions on all travelers from South America, this Thursday, Avianca said it will resume flights to this country on March 26, 2022, with a daily flight for each route.

“We are pleased to resume direct flights between Colombia and the United Kingdom, to offer more and better options for our customers traveling between Europe and Latin America,” said Catalina Nanig, Avianca Vice President of Sales and Distribution.

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