With some countries easing restrictions and non-essential travel resuming, many airlines and their marketing departments are working hard to get the message out that air travel is safe. Campaigns have taken the form of press releases and special videos, which show new cleaning procedures and perhaps go even further, showing flight attendants fully clad in PPE – or at least a mask. Etihad is no exception to this and has produced and released a new video to give future and prospective travelers additional peace of mind. However, this video is slightly different in that it focuses on the airport experience.
“As restrictions start to ease and to provide guests peace of mind when flying, Etihad Airways recently launched Etihad Wellness to provide passengers a healthy, safe and comfortable travel environment…To demonstrate just what we’ve been doing, we have launched a behind-the-scenes video.” -Etihad Airways
It’s not too common to find airlines putting effort into promoting features at their home airports- and certainly not as much as they may be pushing their inflight services. However, Etihad has taken this step and is giving passengers an idea of what it’s like to travel through Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Wellness Ambassadors
At Abu Dhabi’s airport, the first thing you may encounter are Etihad’s Wellness Ambassadors. Etihad calls them a “specially trained team” who will be on hand to “answer questions and share advice on staying safe during your trip.”
Equally important, Wellness Ambassadors will also help ensure that global health and hygiene regulations are being fully adhered to by all passengers.
Special technology throughout AUH
One of the most exciting parts of the new video is the technology featured at Abu Dhabi’s airport. This includes something called ‘Fit-to-fly automated health screening,’ which appears to be a fully automated machine that reads vitals within a booth. This system will measure aspects of your health, including the respiratory system, heart rate, and temperature.
If your vitals fit within the system’s parameters for safe travel, then you’ll be assessed as “fit-to-fly.” If not, you’ll be sent for secondary screening, presumably by a human health official.
Moving on to immigration, Etihad has thermal scanners to check passenger temperatures. This would be the second temperature reading after the fit-to-fly scan.
Further into the airport, the video shows that the terminals have self-cleaning escalator handrails as well as touchless-elevator controls.
Other precautions
The video also notes that boarding is conducted row-by-row to prevent queuing. Furthermore, self-service check-in is pointed out, as well as the presence of social distancing signage, which reminds travelers of the two-meter distance that should be observed.
Etihad has gone to great lengths to make its passengers feel safe in terms of producing slick and great looking videos. In addition to the above video, the airline has a reasonably robust webpage as well as two more videos that cover health and hygiene.
