Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA), under the direct supervision of The Nippon Care-Fit Education Institute, announced a new accessibility guideline for customers requesting special assistance at the airport and during flight and airline employees to ensure a safe and accessible journey when traveling by air during the COVID-19 crisis.
Key highlights include:
- Airlines jointly introduce new measures providing assistance involving physical contact; strengthen initiatives to ensure hand disinfection and sterilization and approaching diagonally or from the side to prevent direct transmission.
- New measures strengthen the ability to provide timely information for those with visual and/or hearing impairment.
- Carriers are committed to improving communication measures, and while masks are essential in protecting one`s health, the carriers will provide visual aids at the airport to overcome the difficulties that masks create for the hearing impaired.
The guideline follows the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Guidance on Accessible Air Travel in Response to COVID-19, which lays out the basic principles for airlines to follow on special assistance requests, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan’s updated measures to adjust to today’s traveling environment.
Based on the guidelines provided by the MLIT, JAL and ANA will act responsibly and respond to the needs of the traveling public, while strengthening efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Both carriers seek to provide a safe, secure and accessible travel experience.
