This safety directive from EASA requires national aviation authorities to ensure aircraft operators clean and disinfect aircraft after flights from airports in areas with high COVID-19 risk. Operators must clean aircraft within 24 hours of such a flight at the latest, using suitable substances. They must also equip aircraft with universal precaution kits for crew assisting potentially infectious passengers.
This safety directive from EASA requires national aviation authorities to ensure aircraft operators clean and disinfect aircraft after flights from airports in areas with high COVID-19 risk. Operators must clean aircraft within 24 hours of such a flight at the latest, using suitable substances. They must also equip aircraft with universal precaution kits for crew assisting potentially infectious passengers.
This safety directive from EASA requires national aviation authorities to ensure aircraft operators clean and disinfect aircraft after flights from airports in areas with high COVID-19 risk. Operators must clean aircraft within 24 hours of such a flight at the latest, using suitable substances. They must also equip aircraft with universal precaution kits for crew assisting potentially infectious passengers.
This safety directive from EASA requires national aviation authorities to ensure aircraft operators clean and disinfect aircraft after flights from airports in areas with high COVID-19 risk. Operators must clean aircraft within 24 hours of such a flight at the latest, using suitable substances. They must also equip aircraft with universal precaution kits for crew assisting potentially infectious passengers.
76(6)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 2018/1139 SD No.: 2020-01 Issued: 13 March 2020 Note: This safety directive (SD) reacting to an urgent safety problem is issued by the Agency in accordance with Art. 76 (6) (b) of Regulation (EU) No 2018/1139.
Subject: Operational measures to prevent the spread of Coronavirus `SARS-CoV-2`
infection
Effective Date: 16 March 2020
Supersedure: Not applicable
Applicability: National Aviation Authorities (NAAs) responsible for the certification and oversight of aircraft operators involved in commercial air transport of passengers in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 965/2012.
Definitions: Airports located in affected areas with high risk of transmission of the CoViD-19 infection are airports listed in Annex 1 to this Safety Directive. This Annex 1 is developed in coordination with Member States and based on the information from World Health Organization (WHO), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and other reputable public health institutes. This list will be regularly updated and available in the EASA Safety Publication Tool and on the EASA website.
Reason: The outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (CoViD-19) in the city of Wuhan, People’s Republic of China (PRC) that is caused by SARS-CoV-2 has spread rapidly in China and worldwide, and has been qualified by WHO as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Based on the reports published by the WHO, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the ECDC, EASA issued the Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) 2020-02 (later revised, now at Revision 2), providing recommendations to the NAAs and Aircraft and Aerodrome operators in order to reduce the risk of spreading of the SARS-CoV-2.
Since that SIB was issued, the situation concerning CoViD-19 across Europe has rapidly evolved with the development of European clusters of the virus. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 is still on an increasing curve and the peak values as estimated by DG SANTE and ECDC have not yet been reached. Furthermore, the current scientific evidence show a potential persistence of SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces up to several days depending on the environment.
For the reasons described above and in order to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 from potentially contaminated surfaces inside aircraft operated by operators certified in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 965/2012, EASA has decided to issue this Safety Directive which: (1) determines the safety objective to be achieved by the NAAs in respect of those operators, and (2) recommends corrective actions to be taken to achieve that objective.
In parallel EASA has issued, in accordance with Article Art. 76 (6) (a) of Regulation (EU) No 2018/1139, an equivalent Safety Directive 2020-02 addressed to Third Country Operators (TCOs) authorised by EASA pursuant to Commission Regulation (EU) No 452/2014 to perform commercial air transport operations into, within or out of the territory subject to the provisions of the Treaty on European Union.
Safety Objective(s) to be achieved:
To minimise the risks to passengers and to the general public, due to operations from airports located in affected areas with high risk of transmission of the CoViD-19 infection by aircraft operators certified in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 965/2012.
Recommended Corrective Action(s) to be taken:
(1) NAAs to ensure, by taking the appropriate national measures, that aircraft operators under their oversight and involved in commercial air transport of passengers in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 965/2012 from an airport located in an affected area with high risk of transmission of the CoViD-19 infection:
(1.1) Clean and fully disinfect the aircraft using substances suitable for aviation use after each flight coming from an airport located in an affected area with high risk of transmission of the CoViD-19 infection (see Note 1 of this SD).
Note 1: Such as substances containing 62%-71% ethanol alcohol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide, or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite. Suitability of the substances should be checked against the aircraft manufacturers’ documentation.
The operator may implement different disinfection frequency based on a risk assessment which takes into account the operational circumstances and the duration of the disinfecting effects of the substance used. In such a case, the operator shall ensure that the aircraft is fully cleaned and disinfected not later than 24 hours after the departure from an airport located in an affected area with high risk of transmission of the CoViD-19 infection.
(1.2) Equip the aircraft with one or more Universal Precaution Kits. Such kits should be used to protect crew members who are assisting potentially infectious cases of suspected CoViD-19 and in cleaning up and correctly discarding any potentially infectious contents.
Information on the actions taken:
(2) NAAs shall take measures to achieve the determined safety objective within 7 days from the effective date of this Safety Directive and inform EASA of those measures.
Ref. Publications: EASA SD 2020-02 dated 13 March 2020.
Remarks: 1. Enquiries regarding this SD and the information on the actions taken to implement it should be referred to the EASA Programming and Continued Airworthiness Information Section, E-mail: ADs@easa.europa.eu.
