TravTalk India Online Magazine
While Air China leads on the Safe Travel Score for the Asia Pacific region by Safe Travel Barometer, India’s Vistara and IndiGo airlines are also among the top 10 safest carriers in the region.
Hazel Jain
Safe Travel Barometer has announced an update (October 2020) to its Safe Travel Score for more than 230 airlines worldwide. The Safe Travel Score is an industry-first COVID-19 rating initiative created in the wake of recovery from the pandemic. For airlines, the Safe Travel Score is based on an independent audit of 26 traveller health and safety measures, along with traveller convenience initiatives, service excellence and overall traveller experience announced by airlines, regulatory and government authorities to alleviate traveller anxiety and boost confidence.
Air China, among Asia Pacific’s (APAC) largest airlines, emerged as the leading airline in the region with a Safe Travel Score of 4.1 out of 5, having carried out various traveller health and safety initiatives. Air China was among the first carriers globally to resume domestic services after the COVID-19 outbreak grounded its fleet earlier in 2020. While the airline had basics covered such as mandatory face masks and sanitisers for passengers on their journeys, it also initiated fogging of the aircraft before or after every flight.
Initiatives of 72 airlines were evaluated across APAC, out of which 11 airlines (15 per cent) scored a Safe Travel Score of 4.0 or above – the highest ratio worldwide. All carriers on the APAC leader board had a rating of 4.0 and above, including China Southern Airlines, Singapore Airlines and India’s Vistara (4.1 each); Asiana, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air and Australia’s Qantas Airways (4.0). Only one low-cost carrier made it to the APAC leaderboard – India’s IndiGo (4.0). Each airline is undertaking major operational reviews to adjust to the new market realities.
Virendra Jain, Co-Founder and CEO, Safe Travel Barometer, says, “APAC is still battling the effects of COVID-19. While markets are steadily resuming domestic operations, few have also initiated international travel bubbles to facilitate repatriation and business travel. Yet, the capacity is far from catching up to the pre-COVID levels. A number of APAC airlines are matching their safety initiatives with the global best, but we also see some degree of normalisation returning to the airlines cancellations and rebooking policies, which could still deter travellers from choosing one airline over another.”
Methodology
The Safe Travel Score methodology has evolved since it was first announced in August 2020. The process now assigns variable weights to all the initiatives, depending on their importance. These initiatives are assigned to one of the three sub-categories which in turn have differential weights assigned to them, basis upon their gravity in the traveller’s decision-making and actual journey. The aggregated weights by sub-categories are rolled-up to arrive at the final Safe Travel Score.
