Cabin crew ditch their uniforms for new couture protective gear.
By Mel Fernandez
AUCKLAND – Amid the raging coronavirus spread around the world most airlines were hastening to ensure flight attendants’ safety by offering basic face masks and gloves as part of their health and safety measures. Hospital-style full protective gear was reserved for those flights that were operating rescue and repatriation, which required more robust health procedures.
While Philippine Airlines isn’t the first to introduce protective gear for cabin crews, they were the first to have a designer collaboration for these uniforms and in the process have taken couture protective gear to a whole new level.
The uniforms were designed by Filipino couturier Edwin Tan, who wanted to incorporate elements of the airline’s branding into the crew’s protective gear.
“The detail is a subtle branding for PAL. We didn’t have time to print or embroider the logo, so we came up with the idea of mimicking or reworking the ‘flag’ logo of PAL,” Tan said.
“We used a non-porous material for the PPE, a material with substantial weight to give it better fall than generic PPE.”
The protective suits have a ‘fit and function’ that allows cabin crew to perform their duties in them. Calf-length gowns and full face shields are part of the uniform designed to offer flight attendants extra peace of mind.
The airline said that it issued staff the new reusable uniforms “along with a special bag that it gets put into after use to take home to wash – with instructions on washing”.
PAL’s designer PPE made its debut on a 10-hour repatriation flight to Auckland in April this year (see related story). Other airlines are expected to follow suit and redesign their protective gear to look more chic as this could well be the new norm.
THE ‘BAYANIHAN SPIRIT’ KNOWS NO BORDERS
By Mel Fernandez
MANILA – “The pandemic knows no borders, neither does the Bayanihan spirit,” notes the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on its website. “In early April the PH Embassy in Wellington assisted 60 stranded Filipinos in New Zealand by facilitating their inclusion in the special PAL flight that departed Auckland for Manila.”
With the global lockdown entrenched the Embassy sought the cooperation of the NZ government to make this special PAL flight possible in response to the Filipinos’ calls for assistance.
The flight from Manila was operated on one of Philippine Airlines’ new Airbus A350-900 aircraft – the first time the airline has operated this aircraft type to Auckland.
PAL’s New Zealand sales manager Ian Herald told Travel Galore that this was a one-off use of this aircraft type. “There are no plans to change the aircraft to an A350 in the future. It was just operationally and commercially a better aircraft to fly on this occasion.
There were 184 Kiwi passport holders or permanent residents on the inbound flight from Manila on 19 April and 60 on the outbound flight on 20 April, which was restricted to Philippine nationals or citizens.
All arriving passengers into Auckland were required to undergo the 14-day quarantine requirement.
Philippine Airlines is expected to resume flights to Manila in the near future and some travel agents are taking bookings for Christmas with some special conditions.
