EasyJet is to resume a very small number of flights between the UK and Nice from 15th June with increased safety measures on board including mandatory wearing of face masks. It will be the first time the airline has taken to the skies since grounding its entire fleet on 30th March.
The airline says there is sufficient customer demand to restart domestic routes in the UK and France. Further routes will be added in the following weeks, as and when passenger demand rises and lockdown measures ease further across Europe.
The airline will resume flights from its main airports in the UK, including London Gatwick, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Belfast International. It will also begin flying again from cities in France, including Nice , Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Lyon, as well as Geneva in Switzerland, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, and Barcelona in Spain.
The company will introduce enhanced cleaning and disinfection of its aircraft, make disinfectant wipes and hand sanitiser available on board, and require all passengers and cabin crew, as well as ground crew, to wear masks. There will be no food service onboard, initially.
EasyJet will not, however, block the middle seats in its planes, saying the measures “have been implemented in consultation with aviation authorities” and are in line with government and medical advice.
Irish carrier Ryanair has also announced a resumption of flights, saying it intends to restart 40% of its flights in July, operating almost 1,000 a day, but with only half the number of passengers between July and September than previously forecast.
News of easyJet’s return to the skies comes just days after the Europe-based airline revealed that it had suffered a major cyber attack which captured names, email addresses and travel details of nine million passengers, including 2,200 customers that had their credit card details stolen.
At this stage, there is no evidence of any personal information having been misused, EasyJet saidin a statement.
The Principality’s employer’s union, the Federation of Monegasque Enterprises (FEDEM), has formally requested the government scrap a ban on dismissals and the obligation to allow employees to telework which were instated during lockdown.
At the start of the health crisis, a series of layoffs by employers in the Principality made headlines. The government’s response was swift, and under the leadership of Minister of Social Affairs and Health Didier Gamerdinger, a law was passed to prohibit such dismissals during the epidemic.
Now, FEDEM is claiming that the law “attacks freedom of work, the right to property, the principle of legal certainty, as well as the right to social protection.”
It argues that the law is essentially taking away the rights of employers to dismiss employees as well as forcing them to allow workers to telecommute.
The employers’ union says that, whilst it understands “fully that in view of the current pandemic context, the Monegasque State needed to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population, and in particular of the employees working in Monaco”, they find it “unacceptable” that such measures have become law.
The fear for business leaders is that the government is looking to dictate how they run their companies, allowing them unprecedented control over hiring and firing practices.
The union argues that law, published on 15th May in the Official Journal, restricts employers and binds them “excessively and radically to the possibilities of dismissal, by restricting them to only five cases which include serious fault, dismissal initiated before the Covid-19 crisis, death of the employer, disappearance of the cause of the employment contract, and impossibility of reclassifying unfit employees.”
Meanwhile, the union says it is unclear how the law is beneficial in the long run, saying “these provisions do not contribute to the preservation of health or the fight against the spread of the disease and affect the good management of companies.”
The union’s motion was filed on 18th May and will go before the magistrates in due course.
Yachts flying the Monegasque flag have been given official authorisation by maritime decree to travel or stopover in French territorial waters.
France and Monaco have had longstanding reciprocal agreements on many things, due largely in part to the fact that France surrounds Monaco on three sides, making these agreements beneficial to all concerned.
The one side of Monaco not enrobed by France borders the sea. So, it seems only logical that the Principality and France would have cause to give each other certain access to the territorial waters of the other.
By a maritime decree dated 18th May, the French have granted rights to Monegasque vessels in their waters, and conversely, boats bearing the flag of France have the right to navigate and stopover in Monaco.
Stopovers at the port and at anchor are limited along the coastline to a maximum distance of 54 nautical miles, about 100km, from the ports of Monaco for French craft.
For the moment, pleasure craft looking to moor are still subjected to the current rules regarding lockdown and deconfinement in each individual municipality. Sailors must therefore appeal to the town hall before assuming they will be welcome in port. Additionally, a call by VHF or phone must be made by any vessel entering French waters.
For the third consecutive year, World Bee Day has been celebrated across the globe to heighten awareness about these special creatures and the major role they play in the environment.
The United Nations declared 20th May World Bee Day back in 2018 to remind everyone of the unique role that bees and other pollinators, such as wasps, hornets, bats and birds, play in contributing to food security as well as conservation of biodiversity.
Over 90% of the wild flowering plants on the planet depend on pollination to survive. Without them, a variety of flora would quickly go extinct. Plants are bound to one place, so their reproductive system is dependent on pollinators. This is where bees and their brethren come into play. They collect pollen from the stamens, the male reproductive organ of a plant, and deposit it on the female reproductive organ, or the pistil. After fertilization, a seed, protected by a fruit, will germinate to give birth to a new plant.
France alone has 1,000 species of bee, and worldwide that number climbs to 20,000.
The Monegasque government has been helping the bee population thrive since 2011. In conjunction with the UNAF, they built an apiary located on the roof of the Museum of Stamps and Coins in Fontvieille which houses dozens of beehives. A beekeeper works closely with the Department of Urban Planning to protect and maintain the hives and help the proliferation of the bees.
In June, the honey these bees have created is extracted. Last year alone the apiary produced 128kg of fresh, local honey. For humans, the consummation of local honey is thought to have many valuable health benefits. Not only is it a natural sweetener, it is purported to help reduce the severity of seasonal allergies, it is rich in antioxidants, can lower triglyceride levels, improves cholesterol and may even lower blood pressure.
Additionally, the National Forestry Office (ONF) has built bee hotels around the Principality, including the one at the Jardins Saint Martin. The hotels serve several purposes including teaching the public and scientists how wild bees function as well as providing a safe nesting place for them to thrive.
Silversea Cruises, who is headquartered in Monaco, is preparing to take delivery of new ship Silver Origin following enormous resilience and determination from Dutch shipyard De Hoop amid a worldwide lockdown. Despite the global crisis, De Hoop implemented rigid safety procedures, reduced its workforce, and devised ingenious ways to overcome challenges, including a world-first during the ship’s sea trial.
On 15th March 2020 – four days after coronavirus was declared as a global pandemic – the Netherlandsimplemented a national lockdown and the country ground to a halt to safeguard the health of its people. Relatively isolated in Lobith, a remote corner of the Netherlands, De Hoop shipyard offered its approximately 250 employees the option to cease working.
While many were forced to return to their families or to their country of origin before borders closed, approximately 200 employees, mainly skilled carpenters, opted to continue, working tirelessly to apply their craftsmanship to the ship’s guest suites. Many employees were accommodated in an on-site residential facility, known as Barge Rossini, which had a reduced capacity from 200 to 100 for safety purposes.
In addition to the rigorous protocol imposed by the Dutch health authority, RIVM, De Hoop’s professionals were protected by sanitary procedures developed by the shipyard itself: they underwent daily temperature checks; enhanced cleaning procedures were established in the living quarters, the crew mess, and throughout Silver Origin; and strict social distancing measures were implemented, including a 1.5m separation rule and a one-way system throughout the ship.
As a result, contact circles were reduced, meetings were cancelled, and fewer people were allowed in each area of the ship. Video calls replaced face-to-face conversations, as flights were cancelled and contractors could no longer reach the yard. Necessary supplies were cut off: Carpeting, loose furniture and the onboard art collection were delayed in arriving, while the closure of Italy disrupted the installation of the ship’s windows and galley. The stringent lockdown threatened the project’s progress.
Small hurdles became giant obstacles, but still the team persevered and as the world around it came to a stop, De Hoop shipyard pushed on. The shipyard fundamentally changed the way it operated to continue the project. None of the employees caught the virus and the team maintained an unwaveringly strong spirit as Silver Origin took its magnificent shape, symbolising the commitment and resilience of the global cruise industry. Silver Origin during her sea trial Remotely operated sea trials
While shallow waters on the Waal River delayed Silver Origin’s float out from November to 30th December 2019, the months of January and February brought heavy rain to Western Europe in 2020, leading to unusually high water levels. This prevented Silver Origin and Barge Rossini from passing beneath the 12 bridges that separate De Hoop shipyard from the sea. Only on 26th March was a safe passage to Rotterdam accessible, more than a month later than originally planned. This left just four weeks between arrival in Rotterdam and the sea trial.
Held from 27th to 29th April off the coast of Goeree-Overflakkee, Silver Origin‘s sea trials were a great success, offering the Captain the chance to put the ship through its paces and enabling the shipyard to demonstrate proper operation of the machinery systems.
Necessitated by the travel ban, which prevented sub-contractors from reaching the ship, Silver Origin’s sea trials included a historic world-first: during the dynamic positioning acceptance test, which tests the ship’s ability to remain within 10cm of a fixed point without dropping anchor, the ship’s dynamic positioning system was remotely tuned and calibrated by a third party in St. Petersburg, Russia – over 1,800km away. A fast internet connection was set up on board to enable near-instant communication between both parties and, using a headset and a camera, an operative from St. Petersburg completed manoeuvring tests. The ship’s Captain, meanwhile, acted as his lookout from on board.
“This was the first time such an operation has been completed remotely during a sea trial,” says Fre Drenth, the Director of De Hoop Shipyard. “The tuning was successful and took no longer than usual. It demonstrates that it is possible to tune dynamic positioning systems remotely. It could potentially save a lot of travelling time for engineers in the future. I am enormously proud of my team for their work.”
“We usually have a large team that participates in the sea trials, but this year was different because of the extraordinary situation,” says Vesa Uuttu, Director of Newbuilds and Site Office NL, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “Hence, a limited team participated, enough to comply with regulations. It was a proud moment to see the ship perform as it did, for all involved, especially the team at De Hoop who have worked tirelessly to complete the project in these tough circumstances.” The finishing touches
“We are so grateful to the professionals at the De Hoop shipyard,” says Roberto Martinoli, Silversea’s President and CEO. “In the face of such adversity, their efforts were extraordinary and represent the resilience of European industry. Silver Origin looks magnificent. Our pioneering new ship represents the dawning of a new age of travel in the Galapagos Islands and we look forward to welcoming guests aboard when the time is right.”
The finishing touches are now being applied to Silver Origin, ahead of the ship’s delivery in the coming weeks. And the De Hoop team is still finding innovative ways to progress, in spite of the challenging circumstances. Currently docked in Pernis in the Netherlands, Silver Origin will set sail for the Galapagos Islands after being delivered to Silversea Cruises. 45 members of De Hoop’s workforce remain on Barge Rossini, and the shipyard intends on maintaining their strict new sanitary protocols for the long-term.
Silversea Cruises is using this time of pause, as well as the information that has become available, to improve its sanitary standards further still, with the health and safety of guests and crew as the top priority. The cruise line is currently working on enhanced sanitary protocols across its fleet to ensure that all necessary precautions are in place to resume safe and healthy cruising when the time is right.
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