Air France has recently said that it is resuming operations from Birmingham Airport to assist with essential travel and repatriation to and from the Midlands.
Starting June 15, Air France will operate the Birmingham – Paris route twice a week using an Embraer 190 aircraft. Frequencies will increase weekly with the daily service resuming on July 6. As the peak summer season approaches, Air France passengers will have the opportunity to connect to up to 150 destinations worldwide via Paris CDG.
Benedicte Duval, General Manager for UK & Ireland, said, ‘As borders reopen and travel restrictions begin to ease, we are fully focused on the safe and gradual resumption of air travel. After this challenging period, we are delighted to be able to welcome our Midlands based customers back on board. As we all adapt to this new environment, I can assure you that all Air France staff, both on the ground and on board, are committed to guaranteeing our passengers the highest levels of health & safety.’
Tom Screen, Aviation Director of Birmingham Airport said: ‘We are delighted that Air France will resume flights from Birmingham Airport on the 15th June. Air France has been a partner airline of Birmingham for many years and offers passengers direct access to Paris and onward connections to up to 150 destinations.
‘We want to reassure customers that their safety is our number one priority, and as we restart operations we advise all to please follow the health and safety guidance available on our website. We look forward to welcoming the return of Air France, and its customers, to the airport from Monday.’
In line UK government guidelines, Air France requires customers to wear a mask throughout their journey. This is in addition to a range of health and safety measures implemented by Air France in response to the COVID-19 health crisis, which include compulsory wearing of masks for all airline crew members and airport handling agents in contact with customers.
In addition, Air France has introduced temperature checks using contactless infrared thermometers for departing passengers. The customer channels on the ground have been modified with the implementation of physical distancing along the journey at the airport and the installation of Plexiglas protection screens at airports whenever possible.
Further, Air France aircraft will feature an air recycling system fitted with ‘High Efficiency Particulate Air’ or HEPA filters that extract some 99.99 percent of the smallest viruses, including those no larger than 0.01 micrometres. The airline will reinforce daily aircraft cleaning procedures and introduce a specific procedure for the periodic disinfecting of aircraft by spraying an approved virucidal product effective for 10 days. On domestic flights and short flights in Europe, meal and beverage services have also been suspended.
