Covid-19 coronavirus: NZ pilots want masks for passengers, crew on planes

A pilots' group says airlines should be allowed to relax physical distancing on planes if all crew and passengers wear masks. The New Zealand Air Line Pilots' Association (NZALPA) today announced its full support of health and safety alternatives to leaving the middle seats empty as backed by the IATA and announced by the Qantas group today. "As a safety-led organisation, we also want to ensure that our members and the travelling public can get back into the air as quickly as possible, and at an affordable cost," the association's president, Andrew Ridling, said. Rather than leaving valuable and much needed middle seats empty as part of social-distancing measures, the association instead supported the evidence-based advice of IATA's medical professionals. Qantas and Jetstar will give masks to all passengers and implement other measures but will no longer leave an empty seat between passengers to provide a level of social distancing on board. The airline says it is impractical, unnecessary and would result in higher airfares. Air NZ says it is working with health authorities on physical distancing but for now is flying with reduced capacity of around 65% on jets and 50% on turbo-prop aircraft. A spokewoman said it had worked with the Ministry of Health to introduce a range of measures on the ground and in the air to create a safe travel environment for our customers and crew.<br/>