Quiet calm and nearly empty this is an unfamiliar scene that is quickly becoming the new normal Hamad International Airport in Doha is usually one of the busiest airports in the Middle East.
But now because of the COVID19 pandemic operations are running at an all-time low the global health crisis has changed the way things operate here.
Due to this global change of course there's a big downsizing of the operation currently what's what's happening and of course we had to adapt organizationally and also our processes and disinfection standards the airport is disinfected twice a day for now only Qatari citizens are allowed back into the country and they are tested for Koba 19:00 upon arrival Qatar Airways had about 250 flights a day.
Now that's down to around 75 with mainly transit flights through Doha. Passengers must pass through these thermal scanners which measure their body temperature the planes which are still flying are being disinfected after each flight.
According to staff here they are fitted with a special ventilation filter I can't advise you that Qatar Airways has one of the most modern fleets in the air our aircraft have got very good air filtration systems on board and we've got an enhanced cleaning procedure for all our aircraft while most airlines in this part of the world have stopped their passenger flights Qatar Airways remains operational for now.
Qatar Airways believes that the future of air travel will largely rely on more testing of passengers what we're aiming to do is to use newly developed immunology test kits which give you an instant answer what an answer within 10 minutes but at the moment these are still fairly new they're still in development but we've already put an order in for a significant number of these kits that we can test our cruise.
Arrived passengers as Qatar Airways continues its travel restrictions some transit passengers are still trying to make their way home in uncertain times this airport served more than 38 million passengers last year but now this is how things look 40% of the workforce here have been told to work from home while the Health Ministry imposes strict measures on the Qataris that are returning from abroad and other passengers who pass through for now what is certain is that the effects of this pandemic on the travel industry will be felt for years to come Dora Jabari al Jazeera Hamad International Airport Doha.