The latest order from the Ministry of Health to contain the spread of coronavirus could completely stop air travel to Italy, making the return of more than 230,000 compatriots still stranded abroad even more complicated. This is what emerges from a technical analysis of the document – drawn up in concert with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport – and from the comparison that some airlines had over the weekend with government representatives according to what the Courier service from qualified sources. Among the concerns of the carriers there would also be the legal impact on passenger declarations.
One passenger for every three seats
The first complication is logistics. The ordinance establishes a minimum distance of one meter between passengers on board aircraft that from abroad have Italy as their destination. This means that it is not enough – unless explicitly clarified by the Ministry of Health – to leave the central seat of the rows empty since each seat of an Alitalia Airbus A320, for example, is 45.7 centimeters wide. The carrier should therefore seat one traveler every three seats and so in an aircraft that could board 165 people should not board more than 54. Likewise on a 293-seat Boeing 777-200ER – used for intercontinental flights – they could not sit down more than 99 individuals considering all classes (Business, Premium economy, Economy). This would have an economic impact on revenues, but would force multiple flights to return.
self-certification
The ordinance stipulates that anyone wishing to set foot in Italy by plane – but also by ferry, train, car or bus – must hand in the self-certification at the time of embarkation, bearing not only the reason for the trip, but also the address of the home in our country where you intend to spend the “health surveillance period” and “fiduciary isolation”. In this case, the airline will then have to acquire and verify the documentation before boarding. A critical point, they reason in the legal offices of the carriers, since they are not equipped with the necessary tools to check the truthfulness of the information.
The temperature and the masks
Not only. The same carrier operating the flight from abroad to Italy must also measure the body temperature (which must not be over 37.5 ° C) of the individual travelers before they board and always during the embarkation phase the airline must provide “to equip passengers who are not equipped with personal protective equipment”. Another sensitive aspect this considering that the masks are practically impossible to find and in any case cannot be purchased in a short time. For this reason, among the few companies that are still in service in our country, the idea of completely cutting off international connections from Monday 30 March is making headway.
The consequences
The stop to flights could end up involving those too specials of Alitalia and Neos – in coordination with the Farnesina Crisis Unit – to repatriate the Italians still stranded abroad: in the last few days the aircraft of the two companies have been landing in Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa practically full of compatriots (about 40 thousand those returned from beginning of the crisis), which would go against the Ministry of Health ordinance. If you look abroad from 27 March on its few regular flights, Lufthansa has decided to leave the central seat empty, but the decision does not apply to the return flights of the Germans because, the company says in a note, “the priority is to bring as many compatriots back to their homes as possible. “
March 29, 2020 (change March 29, 2020 | 08:23)
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