Lovefly® Blog - Virgin Launches Covid Testing for Crew

Virgin Atlantic announced Covid testing for its crew pre-flight.  A snippet is below from the press release plus link if you want to read more.  Well done Virgin Atlantic ...

Virgin Atlantic introduces on site pre-flight Covid-19 testing trial for crew

The airline is the first in UK to introduce a rapid point of care pre-flight Covid-19 testing trial for cabin crew and pilots, taking every precaution to protect the health of its customers and people.  The Airline will ensure that the testing programme complements NHS Lighthouse Lab-based testing and does not compete for, nor divert, vital gold standard NHS testing resources.  Airline continues call for UK and US governments to introduce a pre departure testing solution to remove quarantine and minimise travel restrictions, in order to open up the skies, support economic recovery and protect 500,000 UK jobs reliant on travel and tourism.  Here is the link to the press release     

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We think this is fantastic news for the airline but also, for those of you considering flying right now.  The fear of flying and Covid link is well reported however, we know that fear of covid is creating more anxiety for those without a fear of flying as well.  Now is the time to fly. All of the airlines need you to travel now so we don't lose anymore great airline institutions such as Monarch and Thomas Cook..

On our podcasts and in our blogs, we are talking about all the reasons why it is safe to fly.  Also, we have mentioned the great work that IATA are doing too - so please check out their work too.  Commercial aviation is so safe because we learn and improve from every incident that has ever occurred.  The same process has been applied to flying during a pandemic - all airlines have put rigorous processes in place to keep you safe.  

Take care,

Lovefly® Team

www.lovefly.co.uk 

For more fear of flying help:

• We have lots of helpful blogs you can read
• We are recording podcasts regularly on helpful topics for the nervous flyer.  Search 'Lovefly' on Podbean, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts
• We have and will run webinars around fear of flying areas people want to know about and more information is on our website www.lovefly.co.uk 
• Audiobook written and narrated by Paul Tizzard available on Audible and most places you get your audio books from 'Helping You to Overcome Fear of Flying' (released this year)

Lovefly® Blog - Travelling by air during the Covid 19 Pandemic

 

In a nutshell, flying right now, during the Covid 19 pandemic, is safer than most people think.  This is not our view, this is a view from our friends at IATA. The website link is below if you want to see more information plus, they have put together a helpful video to reassure the 'want to travel' public.  Their website is literally rammed with helpful information for the nervous flyer - not just fear of flying linked to Covid 19.  Here is a helpful snippet from their terrific website:

'While the risk of catching an infection on an aircraft is typically lower than in a shopping center or an office environment, there are simple measures you can take to further reduce the risk when traveling: wear a mask, clean your hands regularly and check-in online to minimize contact at the airport.

And important to know: nearly all planes today have very sophisticated air filters which catch 99.99% of particles, including viruses like COVID-19. The cabin air is also replaced with new fresh air from outside every two to three minutes. This means that what you breathe onboard is the same quality as in an operating room at a hospital.    

Put it all together and flying remains one of the safest travel alternatives even during COVID-19.'

Please think about travelling if you can.  The airlines are struggling and we do not want to lose any more great travel companies.  Airlines have had to let go thousands of people due to this pandemic.  Flying is such an amazing privilege of our generation - don't you think?

IATA Website  

Helpful video from IATA explaining Covid 19 safety measures in place.

Take care,

Lovefly® Team

For more fear of flying help:

• We have lots of helpful blogs you can read
• We are recording podcasts regularly on helpful topics for the nervous flyer.  Search 'Lovefly' on Podbean, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts
• We have and will run webinars around fear of flying areas people want to know about and more information is on our website www.lovefly.co.uk 
• Audiobook written and narrated by Paul Tizzard available on Audible and most places you get your audio books from 'Helping You to Overcome Fear of Flying' (released this year)

Lovefly® Blog - What are the chances of catching Covid on an aircraft?

One of our team caught this article from Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN Travel and she talks about the chances of catching Covid whilst travelling...and the news looks good.

All airlines have put measures in place to keep us safe during this time - we have talked about this in previous blogs.  We have talked about the amazing filtration system onboard aircraft too.  Many airlines, such as Delta, SouthWest and Delta Blue have started to fly with the middle seat empty. This helps, according to the research however, this is not sustainable for airlines commercially.  This is not just our view, this is also endorsed by IATA.

Tamara says...Fear of flying during the pandemic has drastically reduced global air traffic, which has also been restricted due to border closures. If new scientific claims are borne out, the perceived heightened risk of boarding an airplane could be unfounded.

In one case, about 328 passengers and crew members were tested for coronavirus after it was learned that a March 31 flight from the US to Taiwan had been carrying 12 passengers who were symptomatic at the time. However, all the other passengers tested negative, as did the crew members.

The article is a great read and will definitely help you if you are worried about flying and catching Covid.  Here is the full article.

Our view 

Commercial Aviation is an amazing privilege we have. Travel gives us opportunities that many of us take for granted.  Therein lies the problem.  We are taking it for granted.  We cannot assume that the rich choice of airlines will still be available when we feel ready to fly again! 

Airlines are a business and we have already seen well established travel companies and airlines disappear.  If we do not fly now, we will lose some more great airlines.  Please remember that the more airlines we have, the more competitive the prices. Great airlines such as Virgin, Southwest, EasyJet...have all started to provide a different service to what was already established.  If we don't fly, airlines will shut up shop and we will pay the price, literally.

Take care,

Lovefly® Team

P.S. Fly now and more please.

Lovefly® Blog - National Aviation Day

Did you know that today is national aviation day?

Do you know the history of national aviation day?  According to Wikipedia:

The holiday was established in 1939 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who issued a presidential proclamation which designated the anniversary of Orville Wright's birthday to be National Aviation Day (Mr. Wright, born in 1871, was still alive when the proclamation was first issued, and would live another nine years).

It is particularly important that we commemorate commercial aviation...Especially right now.

We at lovefly are very saddened by the impact of travel altogether due to Covid.  The leisure industry is really struggling to recover - basically, we need to get flying again.   You would be amazed at the measures in place to keep us safe right now.  Commercial aviation has always prioritized back up systems, safety procedures and making sure that there is no 'single point of failure.'  Even more so right now, there is a lot of things in place to keep us travelling safely during the pandemic.  If you would like the official version, here are a couple of examples:

UK Government Advice

USA Government Advice

Take care.

Susan, Paul & John,

Lovefly® Team

Lovefly® Blog - Covid video from IATA and fear of flying

This week, something caught our eye in terms of airlines and Covid readiness.  This short video was released by our friends at IATA who are doing a lot of work to help airlines.  

The video, is no more than a minute and explains 4 factors that reduce the Covid risk. This is great news for us all and especially for people with a fear of flying.  Here is the link

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We ran our first official webinar last week.  Capt Steve, head of 787 training at Virgin Atlantic talked us through 'Why you should trust commercial pilots.'  Some of the areas covered included the major steps you have to go through to even become trained.  Then, a snapshot of some of the measures in place to monitor, train and maintain the high safety culture of commercial pilots.  If you missed this webinar, we have another one coming up on the 15th August 'Weather, Turbulence and everything else.'  Capt Steve will be talking with Paul Tizzard, fear of flying coach and answering your questions.

We have edited some elements of the webinar and will release this on our podcast site, link at top of page www.lovefly.co.uk 

Keep safe,

Lovefly Team

Webinar - 'Weather, turbulence and everything you ever wanted to know' 15th August 1400 UK 

Lovefly® Blog - Commercial Airlines are still here

Saw some great news today... Virgin Atlantic are doing what they can to recover despite the crisis.  

Many airlines have experienced significant problems but, there are small glimmers of hope...This is really important as airlines work to such tight margins, we cannot afford to let another great airline suffer - or even disappear.  Thomas Cook, Monarch to name just a couple have sadly gone in recent years.

Phil Maher, COO Virgin Atlantic posted this on LinkedIn

A snippet from the post:

'Virgin Atlantic restart passenger flying from 20 and 21 July 2020, our first scheduled customer flight since 21 April 2020. We’ll be resuming customer operations from London Heathrow to Orlando, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York JFK and Los Angeles and will continue to operate more than 600 dedicated cargo-only services across Tel Aviv, Chicago, Brussels, Johannesburg, Lagos and Miami.'

Here is some more information to reassure you of what Virgin Atlantic are up to.

We are delighted. Well done Virgin...

Take care,

Lovefly® Team

Lovefly® Blog - Covid and fear of flying

Without doubt, the Covid 19 pandemic is going to have a massive effect upon fear of flying going forwards. 

“The current situation will have a long tail of consequences on the future of the aviation sector and global travel, but many of those impacts will be on traveler behavior, airport screening, regulation, insurance, passenger safety and well-being, and then the ongoing viability of airlines and operators in the sector. While people ordinarily have short memories, the scale of this global pandemic means that it will be on people’s minds for the next decade, especially adults and the elderly,” said Mathew Griffin, CEO of London-based 311 Institute, a futurist think-tank

That is a quote taken from a recent article on business-standard.com 

Our Views

Commercial aviation is amazingly agile and adaptive.  We have had to get used to rolling with the punches over the years.  There is nothing quite like the current coronavirus but we have had other dramatic moments in our history which we have got through.  We like to have a plan. We like to know what are the risks and we do something about it. That is how we operate in commercial aviation.  In the past, we have been hit by SARS, Volcanic Ash, The 9/11 attacks...to name but a few.  We learn and make changes.

We are constantly learning and we will take advice from WHO and make the necessary changes to ensure flying is as safe as possible going forwards. Many airlines are already putting in measures as they plan ahead such as empty seats in the cabin to create more space between customers.  There are many, many other plans in place to ensure that travel is still available to us all.  

Please be assured, we want flying to continue to be as safe as possible for all of us.  

By the way, we will also be adapting our future courses to include a virus element as we know that this will be a new frequently asked question.

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Cabin Crew to Morrisons

Not sure if you saw this recently?  Benjamin works for Virgin Atlantic, but with all flights grounded during lockdown, he needed something else to fill his time.

Back in March, Virgin Atlantic announced they would be working with supermarkets and healthcare providers to arrange temporary and voluntary jobs for furloughed staff.

Thus, Benjamin has since been able to undertake work in his local Morrison's store.

He is enjoying being able to help others during the crisis and even took to LinkedIn to share a post about his new role.  

"Three weeks apart. Different aisle, different uniform and different products. I wouldn’t have expected that most of our fleet would be grounded and that I’d be working for Morrisons, however I’m having a great time meeting customers and colleagues and playing my little part in feeding the nation."

His post quickly went viral, garnering over 131,000 likes.





Keep safe,
Lovefly® Team