An Asiana Airlines A350 / Courtesy of Asiana Airlines

By Kim Hyun-bin

The Korean government is seeking to ease COVID-19 measures regarding protective clothing on international flights to assist local airlines' efforts to meet rising passenger demand.

It will allow flight attendants on international flights to take off their COVID-19 protective suits, goggles and gloves next month, which they are currently obligated to wear to prevent infection.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to notify airlines of the guidelines for easing the measures on international flights soon. Once addressed, it will be the first time in over two years that international flight crews will not have to wear the disposable protective gear.

In addition to universally required face masks, local airlines have required international flight crews to wear disposable protective suits, gloves and goggles on board since April 2020. It has not been required for flight crews to wear the protective clothing during domestic flights.

International flight attendants have been wearing the disposable protective suits over their uniforms before passengers board the plane when flying to areas with high numbers of COVID-19 infections. The protective suits are then disposed of onboard after the aircraft lands.

Disinfection procedures which are currently conducted every time an aircraft is set to depart will be reduced to only twice a week.

Airlines use specialized chemicals to disinfect their cabins before each flight, bearing the additional costs of purchasing the chemicals, as well as other labor costs.

To reduce the burden on airlines, the transport ministry plans to ease the virus spread prevention measures and reduce cabin disinfection frequency to twice a month, which is the level they were before the COVID-19 pandemic started. However, it will maintain the disinfection measures for bathrooms.

With regard to the inflight social distancing policy between passengers, in which one seat has been left vacant between passengers, airlines flying international flights have been voluntarily enforcing the measure as there was a lack of passenger demand, but they are being abolished as travel demand is on the rise.

The government's measures to ease the measures on board flights is coming at the same time as the expansion of international flights themselves.

The transport ministry has been pushing since May for the gradual recovery of international flights. International flights have been increased from 420 flights a week in April to 532 flights a week in May, and there are plans to increase the number to 762 in June.

Large airlines such as Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are expanding their international flights mainly on routes to Europe and the Americas. The two airlines are also considering the introduction of the super-large A380 for flights to the U.S., in response to the rising demand.