(TAN): German’s flag carrier Lufthansa was recognized as the airline with the highest safety credentials for travel during COVID-19, in a study by Safe Travel Barometer, an independent subsidiary of travel industry advisory and consulting firm VIDEC.
Touted as the world’s most comprehensive database for COVID-19 traveler health and safety protocols, Safe Travel Barometer has released “Safe Travel Score” for airlines worldwide. The Safe Travel Score is an industry-first rating initiative, based on an independent audit of more than 150 airlines and 20 traveller health and safety measures announced, as part of airlines renewed pre-boarding, boarding and onboard experiences.
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Germany’s Lufthansa is rated as the world’s leading airline with a Safe Travel Score of 4.5 out of 5, having implemented numerous pro-traveler health and safety initiatives. These include utmost transparency in communication of safety measures with travelers, including mandatory face masks for travelers, frequent cleaning of aircraft before/after every flight and most importantly, blocking middle seats in a bold statement to ease traveller anxiety. More recently, Lufthansa also announced rollout of COVID-19 tests of arriving passengers at Munich and Frankfurt airports.
India’s Vistara and US-based Delta are tied at the second spot with a Safe Travel Score of 4.4 out of 5.
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The entry of US-based airlines in the top-10 is the most encouraging. Safe Travel Barometer first highlighted the dismal performance of the US carriers in June, when the majority of them did not have much (or any) traveler safety protocols in place. The introduction of these measures ever since to coerce travelers back in the air enabled four US carriers — Delta (4.4), Allegiant (4.4), Hawaiian (4.2) and Alaska (4.1) — to push ahead of other airlines globally and make it to the top-10 list.
The other airlines in the top 10 list are China Airlines (4.2), AirAsia (4.2), Emirates (4.2) and Philippine Airlines (4.2).
