airBaltic wins high Covid-19 safety rating

Latvian airline airBaltic has been awarded a five-star Covid-19 safety rating by aviation industry company Skytrax.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic said: “The health and safety of our passengers and employees stand above all. Already since spring we have aligned our operations, introducing dozens of new hygiene and safety procedures to provide reliable and safe services. The audit shows that we have been doing our job very well. We will continue to adjust our procedures and services wherever it may be needed.”

Skytrax is an international air transport rating organisation that launched its Covid-19 Safety Ratings program in August 2020, covering airlines and airports across the world. The audit focuses solely on cleanliness, hygiene and safety procedures.

However, it should be noted that the Skytrax Covid-19 Airline Ratings are structured to award between 3-Star and 5-Star Covid-19 airline ratings only. You can't get a 1-star or 2-star rating, so arguably the rating system is skewed towards positive marketing.

Also Skytrax notes: “We do not include social distancing for cabin seating, since very few airlines block middle seats on wide-body aircraft or aisle or window seats on narrower planes, and such a policy is not a sustainable model.”

airBaltic previously was named as one of the top twenty airlines for Covid-19 compliance by another rating agency Airlineratings.com. In that case it has complied with all the criteria, receiving 7 out of 7 stars.

Source: eng.lsm.lv