Qatar Airways pledges to increase Scottish flights to Middle East hub
● Face visors and masks mandatory for all passengers
Qatar Airways plans to progressively increase the number of flights from Edinburgh to its Middle East hub in Doha in August and September after becoming the first airline to resume long-haul services from Scotland.
Its safety measures include passengers having to wear face shields as well as masks on board, with cabin crew also wearing PPE gowns.
The carrier restarted its only Scottish route two weeks ago with two flights a week, which it said would rise to at least three from 1 August and potentially five.
Qatar Airlines then hopes to resume daily flights from September.
The moves come as Emirates resumed Glasgow-dubai flights yesterday, which are due to increase from four times a week to daily from 1 August and then twice daily from 1 September.
Qatar Airlines’s chief strategy and transformation officer Thierry Antinori told The Scotsman its flights into Edinburgh were “reasonably busy” but those from Edinburgh to Doha were “quite empty”.
However, he said cargo on the flights was bringing in additional revenue.
Mr Antinori said passengers were mainly people visiting family and friends, or returning to live in Scotland.
Popular destinations the airline serves include Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, which are not on the Scottish Government’s 14-day quarantine list, along with Pakistan and Singapore, which require quarantine on return to Scotland.
However, the Scottish Government indicated that passengers flying to Scotland even from non-quarantine countries would not be exempt from having to isolate if they travelled via Middle East hubs.
A spokesperson said: “If an individual travelling from an exempt country transits through a non-exempt country, they would generally lose that exemption unless they remained on the plane and no passengers got on, or they remained separate from all other passengers in the terminal and left on the plane only with the passengers they arrived with.”
Qatar is one of the first airlines to now require passengers to wear face shields as well as masks or coverings.
Health experts said visors provided an extra layer of protection and helped prevent droplets getting into eyes.
They also stopped people touching their face.
Smaller face shields are available for children.
However, no seats are left empty between passengers not travelling together if flights are busy. Airlines have said air flow through the cabin and air cleaning, plus seats acting as a barrier, reduces the risk of the spread of Covid-19.
An Edinburgh Airport spokesperson said: “We’re now seeing more flights beginning to operate which is a very encouraging sign.”
“We’re now seeing more flights beginning to operate which is a very encouraging sign”
EDINBURGH AIRPORT