Austrian Airlines believes that the use of protective masks onboard a plane to stop the spread of coronavirus is more appropriate than leaving empty middle seats, Marleen Pirchner, the company’s spokeswoman says.
Austrian’s flights have been canceled until May 31. The airline is monitoring the COVID-19 situation and plans to resume flights in June.
Lufthansa, Austrian’s parent company, has already made it mandatory to wear masks during flights, and the same measure is expected to be implemented by the Austrian carrier.
“Blocking middle seats would be extremely useless, financially speaking. It is more appropriate to wear face masks and leave no empty middle seats. Also, from an environmental point of view, this approach is more suitable, because we won’t have to fly very often,” Pirchner added.