POST LOCKDOWN ERA: RULE CHANGES FOR FLIGHT TRAVELS, HOW IS THE GOLD AND JEWELLERY INDUSTRY GOING TO RESPOND?
With Covid emergency phase 3, planes start flying again but something close to all of us has changed: the hand luggage rules.
Our hand luggage, usually placed in the overhead locker thanks to its small size, has always travelled together with us often keeping precious or essential personal items safely handy.
Now, with ENAC decision (National Civil Aviation Authority) of June 25th, all Airlines flying to and from Italian destinations cannot permit passengers to use overhead lockers to place their hand luggage.
According to the new rule, which referred to the latest Health Minister’s decree, passengers will be allowed to carry only a small bag on board which they will place under the seat in front of them.
This new rule has been written to adapt flight conditions to the standard rules against Covid-19 emergency.
Specifically, avoiding the use of the overhead locker, is meant to reduce the corridor gatherings and make both boarding and disembark faster.
Less gathering, perhaps, but certainly with fewer precious and essential personal items on board increasing the odds to loose a piece of luggage (let’s face it, who has never happened to loose a luggage during a trip?).
This new flight rule got many passengers (especially from the jewellery business) concerned: actually, now our colleagues have to give up on business trips because they can’t show physically the new collections to their overseas customers hitting even harder a business which has been among the most affected ones from the economic crisis of the Covid-19 emergency. Will this rule be a temporary order or will alternative solutions have to be found to let our jewels fly safely?
