Since December 2019 on outbreak of a new type of coronavirus was identified in the province of Hubei, China. Since that time the evolution of the outbreak was very rapid reaching out to the most of the countries worldwide. Consequently the outbreak was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on the 30th of January and further characterised as a pandemic on 11th of March. Since mid-February a cluster developed in the province of Lombardy, in the north of Italy. The evolution of this cluster and of additional imported cases from clusters in Iran and China have led to a rapid development which affected all the European Member States generating secondary clusters.

In this context EASA has developed, issued and updated a Safety Information Bulletin to provide operational recommendations for the European stakeholders in accordance with the official communications of WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as well as facilitating access to guidance developed by other stakeholders (e.g. IATA, ACI, EU Healthy Gateways, etc.)

Furthermore, on 13th of March, EASA issued a 2 Safety Directives (SD) one for the EASA Member States and the other for the third country operators performing commercial air transport of passengers into, within or out of the territory subject to the provisions of the Treaty on European Union. The SDs mandate the disinfection of aircraft after each flight arriving from the high risk areas in order to protect the passengers against secondary contamination. In this regard EASA has been considering recent research regarding the resistance of the SARS-CoV-2 on inanimate surfaces (GünterKampf, 2020) (van Doremalen, et al., 2020) as well as research materials regarding efficient disinfecting agents (Klaus, et al., 2016) ( ECDC – Baka, Agoritsa; Cenciarelli, Orlando, 2020) in the context of a potential coronavirus contamination.

Consequently, EASA has developed the following guidance giving proper considerations to the publications of WHO (Guide to Hygiene and Sanitation in Aviation, 2009) (Operational considerations for managing COVID-19 cases or outbreak in aviation, 2020) and ECDC ( ECDC – Baka, Agoritsa; Cenciarelli, Orlando, 2020) in order to provide support to its stakeholders in terms of how the cleaning and disinfections are expected to be performed in the context of the above mentioned SDs.

Since December 2019 an outbreak of a new type of coronavirus was identified in the province of Hubei, China. Since that time the evolution of the outbreak was very rapid reaching out to the most of the countries worldwide. Consequently the outbreak was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on the 30th of January and further characterised as a pandemic on 11th of March. Since mid-February a cluster was identified in the province of Lombardy, in the north of Italy. Afterwards a rapid development was seen which affected all the European Member States.

In this context EASA has developed, issued and updated a Safety Information Bulletin to provide operational recommendations for the European stakeholders in accordance with the official communications of WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) as well as facilitating access to guidance developed by other stakeholders (e.g. IATA, ACI, EU Healthy Gateways, etc.)

Furthermore, on 13th of March, EASA issued two Safety Directives (SD) one for the EASA Member States and the other for the third country operators performing commercial air transport of passengers into, within or out of the territory subject to the provisions of the Treaty on European Union. The SDs mandate the disinfection of aircraft arriving from the high risk areas, as defined and updated in Annex 1 to the SD in collaboration with the Member States, in order to protect the passengers against secondary contamination, and equip the aircraft with one or more Universal Precaution Kits (UPK’s). During the consultation of the SD as well as after the publication EASA received several questions on protection of crew members and in particular quarantine management for crew members operating in high risk areas.

Furthermore, it was reported to EASA that several operators (cargo and passenger transport) had their crew members placed in quarantine for 14 days after a short stopover in areas considered as high risk by the national public health authorities although they did not leave the aircraft during the respective stopover. Consequently, this guide is intended to provide guidance on the preventive measures that operators should implement in order to demonstrate to the national public health authorities in their Member State or other States that action has been taken to minimize the epidemiological risks and, this way, to avoid having their crews being quarantined by the public health authorities during stopover/layovers or on return from areas with high epidemiological risk.

In this context the European Commission has adopted on 26.03.2020 the Guidelines: Facilitating Air Cargo Operations during COVID-19 outbreak (European Commission, 2020), which includes a number of operational measures for the Member States to facilitate air cargo transport.

Consequently, EASA has developed the following guidance providing details in regard to the measures recommended for the operators and NAAs regarding the crew members operating in high risk areas. Although the development of this guide was triggered by the events as presented above, it is, at the same time useful practices to be implemented for the protection of the crew members and limiting the dissemination of the virus through air travel.
This guide should be considered by the NAAs and the aircraft operators in synergy with the recommendations of WHO, ECDC and national public health authorities in regard to the management of contacts, suspected and confirmed cases.

Please note that this guide should be seen as guidance material and an example of good practices to be implemented to the extent possible, depending on the aircraft configuration, by the operators that do not have a procedure agreed with their national public health authorities and it is in no way binding to any operator or Member State.
At all times the decision of the national public health authorities will prevail in regard to the recommendations made in this guide.

The list of airports located in affected areas with high risk of transmission of the COVID-19 infection has been updated.

List of airports

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency published an updated Safety Information Bulletin providing operational recommendations related to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. This aligns it with the Safety Directives and the Guidelines recently issued by EASA to ensure that appropriate preventive measures are taken by the aviation industry to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus in aviation environment.

The revision includes recommendations for the use of face masks for crew members, measures regarding social distancing in the airports as well as a recommendation for the crew members not to use personal disinfectants to disinfect aircraft surfaces. Further editorial changes and clarifications were made to provide a better understanding of the operational recommendations, particularly with regard to the instructions of public health authorities.

In the context of the emergency situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, EASA has committed to treating projects supporting the collective effort to transport medical supplies and other important goods as efficiently as possible. The following message is intended specifically for Design Organisations and Operators, and offers updated information on airworthiness and certification aspects.

We have developed further guidance on the design change classifications, certification aspects as well as use of Exemptions in accordance with Art. 71.1 of the Basic Regulation 2018/1139 for limited time periods.

In order to enable an early availability of a transport solution in the frame of the current COVID-19 situation, EASA supports the use of the provisioning of Article 71.1, also for on-going projects, through additional support to National Competent Authorities and operators as required.

For a permanent use, a design change approval is required.

Transport of medical supplies under a design change approval

Approved Design Organizations may reclassify such modification as “Minor Change” and approve these under their DOA-privileges, allowing for the use of cabin seats when related to the transportation of medical supplies (e.g. masks, gloves, clothing, etc.) provided they are not classified as dangerous goods. This has to be indicated in the approval documents and AFM Supplement.

Since this kind of installation is a change in the scope of operation of the aeroplane, and in the absence of dedicated operational requirements covering this kind of operation, the installation and the procedures for operation have to be addressed taking into account the specific configuration of each aeroplane model affected.

Transport of other cargo under a design change approval

For transport of cargo other than medical supplies as well as in case removal of seats are necessary to allow fixation of cargo onto the aircraft structure for cargo operation, a Major Change or STC application is required and will be processed by EASA with priority.

While preparing your documentation, please consider the following information:

• For the installation of Cargo Seat Bags the CM-CS-003
• The published Special Condition, can be used as appropriate guidance, also in the frame of Minor Changes.
• Already approved STC
• Guidelines published by the aircraft manufacturers Airbus (ref.: FOT-999-0028-20-00) and Boeing (ref.: MOM-MOM-20-0239) have been issued.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has been made aware that, in the current situation of the Coronavirus crisis, some manufacturers are falsely claiming that equipment has been approved by EASA for use in aviation and for the specific purpose of reducing the risk of the virus spreading.

We would advise any parties in the aviation industry who are considering the purchase or use of such equipment to exercise caution if they are contacted about new products, presented with the information that equipment is EASA approved and have reason to suspect that the claim is false.

Details of EASA approved equipment are published on our website: ETSO Authorisations

The European Union Aviation Safety Authority has issued guidelines on measures that may be taken by helicopter operators in the light of the COVID-19 situation.

The guidelines are addressed in particular to those operators who are in the frontline of managing the COVID-19 outbreak throughout the European Union, not only those operating in high-risk areas.

The document contains aviation material that is unlikely to be found in WHO, EDC, and national health procedures.