Philippine Airlines cabin crew will now wear face shields, gloves and PPE overalls branded with the colours of the national flag.
Philippine Airlines cabin crew wear full PPE – suit/mask/face shield/gloves – as part of the airlines health and safety measures, plus social distancing for passengers onboard
Great protection efforts ?? #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/ueQ3dYPMpj
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) April 14, 2020
The new look has made its debut on repatriation flights over the last few weeks taking stranded Philippine citizens home.
“The detail is a subtle branding for PAL. We didn’t have time to print or embroider the logo, so we came up with the idea of mimicking or reworking the ‘flag’ logo of PAL,” said Filipino couturier Edwin Tan, who is behind the new outfits.
Cielo Villaluna, Philippine Airlines head of corporate communications, has said that these new uniforms are a work in progress. Philippine Airlines is still finalising “the look”.
The airline has been pointing out that these uniforms will only be worn on Philippine Airlines’ repatriation flights. Given that the airline has cancelled all of its international and domestic services, repatriation flights are the only flights that Philippine Airlines is operating.
In other airline news:
- Italian flag carrier Alitalia will now be under government control. Italy’s Economic Development Minister believes it can take-off within the first weeks of June. However, the airline’s new owners are evaluating a number of aspects as it transitions to a new company, firstly re-evaluation of its SkyTeam membership.
- Colombian airline Avianca stated today that it is currently in default under certain obligations, leading to uncertainty about the future of the carrier. This poses some difficult questions for the airline.
- Vietnam Airlines has sold its 49 per cent share of Cambodia Angkor Air to an undisclosed buyer. The remaining 51 per cent share is owned by the Cambodian government, who has said they do not want to nationalise the airline fully.
- Despite many airlines applying for government support, Austrian Airlines has yet to seek vital funding. Europe’s airlines have already claimed €12.8 billion in coronavirus aid; however, Austrian is still negotiating its package. Some government ministers have placed pressure on a bailout package to include environmental terms.
- RwandAir has resumed cargo flights on its fifth freedom route between Kigali and Guangzhou, China, by way of Mumbai as of this week. The carrier has a weekly cargo flight to Brussels and London with its A330 fleet, but this route to China will only be on an on-demand basis for the foreseeable future.
