A new and challenging ‘normal’ is beginning to emerge for business aviation, as aircraft traffic increases, countries begin to relax travel restrictions and parts of the sector, such as charter operators, see a spike in demand.

All bizav operators are having to adapt their procedures to keep crew and passengers safe from infection. From maintaining social distancing to ensuring the thorough cleaning of aircraft, there are clear rules that will have to be followed and that will increase costs. In addition, flight permits, health declarations, passenger entry restrictions and possible quarantine requirements must all be factored in when planning flights. As an example, some operators are insisting that passengers must pass temperature checks before boarding aircraft and that passenger personal data has to be collected two weeks in advance of travel. 

Operators are having to adapt to significant changes in procedures – from a lack of hotels for overnight crew layovers, to changes in the availability of in-flight catering and ground services from FBOs. All operators are now having to invest in new cleaning procedures and in personal protection equipment (PPE) for staff as a matter of course.