Air France KLM makes face masks mandatory for passengers starting May 11

KLM Airlines, Dutch subsidiary of Air France KLM, has me it mandatory for all passengers to wear masks starting May 11 and measure will be applicable until August 31, 2020. Royal Dutch Airlines said in a statement that passengers must ensure that y carry required facial protection with m and those t wearing equate facial protection may be refused boarding at gate.

“Facial protection refers to n-medical face masks and to surgical face masks. mask has to be large eugh to cover wearer's entire se and mouth,” said airlines.

company said that children under 10 years of have been excluded from measure which has been taken for safely carrying out fights’ operation for passengers and crew. It ded that passengers from high-risk areas will have to fill in a health declaration to assess wher y are fit to fly. 

“ passengers all sit with ir faces in same direction, so re is little face-to-face interaction, and seats form a barrier to transmission forward or backward in cabin,” said KLM.

While International Air Transport Association (IATA) has come out in favour of passengers wearing masks onboard, it expressed reservations against leaving 'middle seats' empty as part of social distancing measures. association said that it does t recommend airlines to leave 'middle seats' claiming that evidence suggests that risk of transmission onboard aircraft is low.

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Cost-cutting

In March, Air France-KLM Group h decided to cut down its capacity by 70-90 per cent due to a sharp decline in traffic and sales in wake of coronavirus crisis. airline company said in a statement that reduction in capacity will le to grounding of biggest jets including entire Airbus 380 and Boeing 747 fleet.

company h said that it has alrey taken exceptional measures to secure its cash flow which includes identifying ditional saving measures which will generate 200 million euros in 2020. Group ded that Air France and KLM will be consulting with ir elected employee representatives on measures to take into account impact of expected decline in activity.

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(Im: AP)