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Taiwan requires flight crews to wear protective equipment
April 3rd 2020
Taiwan announced this week airline crews must wear personal protective equipment similar to the garments and masks worn by medical professionals. Read More »
The new rules, imposed by Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) were announced on March 29 and came into force on April 1, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.
EVA Air said in a statement on its website flight and cabin crew would wear surgical masks, protective gloves and eye protection equipment and cabin crew would be provided with waterproof protective clothing.
This latest measure is on top of existing rules from Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), which required pilots and cabin crew on long-haul passenger flights to spend five days in quarantine after returning to Taiwan. Those operating cargo only flights must undergo three days of home quarantine, the Central News Agency said.
Also this week, Taiwan’s health minister, Chen Shih-chung, told reporters the CEEC was writing guidelines for passengers.
China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Air have required all passengers to undergo a temperature check before boarding. Those with a forehead temperature above 37.5 Celsius and passengers unwilling to have their temperature taken have been denied boarding.
"It is recommended passengers should bring their own masks, gloves, hand sanitizer (less than 100ml), alcohol wipes and warm clothing when boarding," the EVA website said.
The CECC has banned transit passengers from travelling through Taiwan since March 24. The restrictions, due to run until April 7, were "to decrease the cross-border movement of people and reduce the risk of disease transmission", the CEEC said in March 22.
Foreigners have been prohibited from entering the country since March 19. Taiwan had 329 confirmed cases of people testing positive for the coronavirus at April 2, according to the country's Center for Disease Control website. Five people have died from the disease in Taiwan.
EVA Air's latest traffic statistics showed the airline carried 37.3% fewer passengers in February, compared with the prior corresponding period.
It was a similar story at its rival, CAL, which posted a 40.8% drop in passengers in February compared with a year earlier.
On a more positive note, freight tonne kilometres (FTK) at EVA Air and CAL rose 5.2% and 22.4%, respectively, in February.
