Tina is standing in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport with her one-and-a-half year old daughter, on her way home to Kinshasa from London. “The flight was full, no seats between us and other people,” said the 30-year-old. “They didn’t take our temperature and that worried me.”
But that will soon change because ADP, which runs Charles de Gaulle, put in place temperature checks this month to scan passengers as the aviation industry rushes to restore confidence in travellers and restart a sector that has been decimated by the pandemic.
The airport shows the physical signs of what has quickly become a new normal. Social distance markers divide floor space in front of check-in desks, seats in departure lounges carry stickers warning people to sit apart, Perspex protects staff as they assign seats, and at every entrance masks and gels await those braving air travel.