Qatar Airways has revealed that cabin crew will be required to wear full-body personal protective equipment (PPE). Passengers will also be required to wear face coverings onboard from May 25th.

Throughout the current pandemic, Qatar Airways has continued to operate flights around the world. These have kept vital medical supplies moving, in addition to ensuring that passengers can continue to travel home if they've been stuck abroad. Now, like many other airlines, the Qatari carrier has announced a raft of new health-related measures that will be implemented onboard flights. These are targeted at both the crew and passengers. Let's take a look.

Crew PPE

To ensure that the crew is protected from the virus as much as possible, Qatar Airways will require that they wear a full PPE suit. This will be worn in addition to their regular uniform. The policy is slightly different from many other carriers that are focused on just protecting the hands and face with masks and gloves.

The crew's PPE will, of course, include a face mask. However, the crew will also be expected to wear protective glasses, similar to those worn in labs. Also, the PPE uniform will include a full-body hazmat type suit. Finally, crew members will wear gloves, meaning that their whole body is protected.

Differing service

The service offered onboard the aircraft will also differ slightly. For starters, Qatar is closing its onboard social areas to ensure social distancing. Also, the meal service will be altered.

Rather than offering its usual full table set up service in the business cabin, Qatar will hand out meals on a tray. Passengers will also be provided pre-wrapped cutlery. Also, passengers in the business cabin can use a Do Not Disturb sign to indicate that they don't wish to interact with the crew.

In the economy cabin, the meals will be served as usual. This is as they are already delivered on a tray. The meals are simply heated on board the aircraft, and then distributed around the cabin to passengers. Finally, Qatar Airways is placing large bottles of hand sanitizer in the galleys for passenger and crew use.

Mandatory face coverings

Like many other airlines, Qatar Airways is introducing mandatory face coverings onboard its flights. These will be required from May 25th. The airline recommends that passengers bring their own face coverings to ensure comfort. This indicates that the airline will hand out standard face coverings to passengers if necessary, but it unconfirmed by the airline.

Speaking of the new measures Qatar Airways Group CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said:

“At Qatar Airways, we have introduced these additional safety measures onboard our flights to ensure the continued health and wellbeing of our passengers and cabin crew, and to limit the spread of coronavirus."

What do you make of today's PPE announcement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!