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Turkish Airlines to introduce 'hygiene experts' to monitor passengers

A 'hygiene expert' will be assigned to every Turkish Airlines flight - Turkish Airlines
A 'hygiene expert' will be assigned to every Turkish Airlines flight - Turkish Airlines

The airline has taken steps to ensure their new Covid-19 rules are being adhered to by passengers

The national flag carrier of Turkey has introduced strict new measures on flights to ensure on-board hygiene.

Many airlines have been introducing initiatives to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, which range from new uniforms to extra hand sanitiser. Turkish Airlines has gone one step further to ensure their own rules will be followed, by appointing a ‘hygiene expert’ on each flight.

The carrier resumed domestic flights within Turkey on June 1 after two months of being grounded, with a host of new rules. Passengers are now required to wear masks throughout the flight, minimise their movement around the cabin, and socially distance while boarding and disembarking.

The new hygiene-focused members of staff will be ensuring passengers comply with all this, as well as making sure passengers don’t remove their masks all at once during food services, instead organising a staggered mask removal throughout the plane.

Cold meals in boxes rather than the airline’s usual catering service will help aid this process.

Wearing protective shields, the experts will check the airplane for compliance with hygiene rules before, during and after the flight. Rather more unpleasantly, they are also responsible for disinfecting the on-board lavatories, as well as any other spots passengers may have touched.

There will be one 'hygiene expert’ assigned per flight, which does beg the question of to what extent a single member of staff will be able to enforce these rules at all times on a large aircraft.

Passengers are also presented masks and hygiene kits containing sanitizers before take-off. After each flight, planes are thoroughly disinfected, from seats to windows to lavatories.

Airports in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and Trabzon are all now open for a limited number of daily flights. More domestic airports are set to reopen this week, and Turkish Airlines will resume international flights to Europe on June 18.

Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden are the first countries the airline will be flying to, and will connect a total of 16 European cities with 14 Turkish cities.

The airline is no doubt hoping to reassure passengers that it is safe to fly again with these strict measures.

"Following two months spent away from the skies, our global brand is preparing for the new era by coordinating with national and international authorities," the national carrier said in a statement on June 2.

As well as needing to comply with on-board rules, Turkish Airline passengers will also have to receive a code from the Health Ministry’s Hayat Eve Sığar (Life Fits Inside Home) app before they can board a flight. The code confirms the user’s health condition; sick passengers or those suspected of being infected are barred from flying.

Passengers’ body temperature is also being screened at airport entrances with thermal cameras, and standard ticket checking procedure has now been cancelled. Instead, passengers scan a code on their paperwork into devices installed at the airport.

Anyone seeing off a passenger is no longer allowed inside the airport terminal, and all hand baggage has been banned on flights, with the exception of laptops, purses and baby strollers.