Dallas based Southwest Airlines has reduced its COVID-19 cleaning protocol due to increased flights and to improve its turn around time on ground.
According to reports the effective date is set for August 1, when the airline will only disinfect high touch areas such as bathrooms and tray tables between flights. Armrests and seat belts will not be disinfected between flights.
The change was announced in a memo sent out to employees Monday stating that, “The new cleaning protocol focuses on the bathrooms and tray tables which the memo describes as, “the most important areas to clean between each flight as they are prone to contamination from Customer use and food/beverage consumption.”
A Southwest spokesperson said “Since flight schedules have increased, other areas of the aircraft will be disinfected during our overnight cleaning process, when Southwest Teams spend six to seven hours per aircraft cleaning. Additionally, our electrostatic spraying process applies a disinfectant and spray that forms an anti-microbial coating that kills viruses on contact for 30 days.”
The airlines say they will provide sanitizing wipes per request on flights to customers and that they plan to block the middle seat for space until October.
