The reopening of our borders with the arrival of international travelers on July 15 is fast approaching. With this reopening, Air Mauritius will operate 25 return flights from Monday to Sunday to several destinations including Rodrigues, Reunion, Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle, Mumbai and Johannesburg. The Mauritian authorities have reviewed the health protocol, including for Air Mauritius (MK) staff, especially as more passengers are expected.
According to a memo from the Operations Department, addressed to all flight personnel, they must all have received their two doses of vaccine and must wear N95 masks only. However, the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment is no longer mandatory.
This same protocol will be applied for international flights. Crew members may fly a series of flights while remaining confined to the hotel between flights. However, upon return to Mauritius from the last ‘series’ flight, crew members must go on self-isolation at home for seven days with PCR tests on D-0 and D-7.
For flights to India and South Africa, the protocol will be stricter, i.e., instead of self-isolation at home, crew members will go to hotel confinement for seven days with PCR tests on D-0 and D-7.
For Rodrigues, there are no changes regarding flight personnel. From July 23, 2021, only meal trays will be offered to passengers, whether in business or economy class.
However, this strict sanitary protocol will not apply to pilots because of the lack of pilots, as many of them have lost their flight time of three takeoffs and landings in 90 days.
But the decision that all Air Mauritius flight personnel should be vaccinated with the two doses against Covid-19 is not welcomed by the Air Mauritius Cabin Crew Association.
The president of the Air Mauritius Cabin Crew Association, Yogida Babboo-Rama, expressed her reservations about this protocol, speaking to Radio One.
« We are going to alert the concerned authorities such as the International Transport Workers’ Federation in case these measures are applied as punishment to prevent us from working. According to our association, there is a lack of transparency on the side of the sanitary protocol because from July 15, the crew will no longer have personal protective equipment except for a mask. This is serious because we are still in a pandemic period and in almost all destinations, there is a presence of variants. Our employees work near the passengers and therefore the risks are very high to have the Covid-19 », says Yogida Babboo-Rama, President of the Air Mauritius Cabin Crew Association.
