American Airlines Asia Pacific operations chief Russ Fortson discusses how the carrier, one of the world’s largest, is responding to the Covid-19 epidemic, and the changing needs of team members, customers, and communities.

With demand for air travel having almost entirely evaporated, the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything American Airlines has ever experienced. Yet, as we listen to the needs of customers and take swift action, our team is confident that we will work through this and thrive and win. Throughout the many difficulties American has faced in its 94-year history, our people have been our greatest strength. They have always come together, found better ways to serve our customers and each other, and have ultimately built an even stronger airline.

Due to the rapid decline in demand for international travel as countries have tightened their borders and put quarantine measures in place, American has reduced its Asia Pacific service from daily flights to cities across Australia, mainland China and Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, to just three weekly flights between Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and Tokyo Narita. Although American has scaled its operations back considerably, we remain firmly committed to the Asia Pacific region. Together with our joint business partners Japan Airlines and Qantas, we see the potential for long-term growth.

Challenging times call for creative solutions. Teams throughout American are working around-the-clock to operate cargo-only flights to meet growing customer demand for transporting necessary supplies, including personal protective equipment, to the frontlines of the COVID-19 effort. American now operates 126 weekly flights to Beijing Capital (PEK), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul Incheon (ICN), Shanghai Pudong (PVG), Sydney Kingsford-Smith (SYD) and Tokyo Narita (NRT), and cities across the Caribbean and Europe.

From the outset of this pandemic, American quickly adopted measures to protect the health and safety of team members and customers. We are following strict cleaning procedures, including enhanced cleaning and sanitization of our aircraft, amended food and beverage services, and a relaxed seating policy. We require all customers and flight attendants to wear face coverings during flight.

American’s cleaning practices have always met or exceeded all guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In fact, all our mainline aircraft and most of our regional aircraft are equipped with High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which change the cabin air approximately 15 to 30 times per hour. This is similar to the standard for hospitals.

While travel is limited as restrictions around the world are in place, American is recognizing the loyalty of our frequent flyers by extending the elite status of AAdvantage members through January 31, 2022. We are also providing customers additional booking flexibility.

As American cares for people on life’s journey we are also addressing the needs of many in the communities we are proud to call home. For example, we have donated more than 100 tons of food for those in need of food banks throughout the regions we serve. We recently partnered with Hyatt to show our appreciation to workers on the frontline of this battle. More than 4,000 workers at New York City’s Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, one of the hardest hit by COVID-19, are being treated to roundtrip flights on American to Hyatt hotels at select destinations across the U.S. and the Caribbean.

In cooperation with our generous customers, American has raised more than US $3 million to support the American Red Cross and its volunteers who are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. American collected US $1.2 million through UNICEF’s Change for Good program in 2019 and recently allocated US $460,000 of those funds to support COVID-19 relief efforts in Latin America.

Even in the midst of one of the biggest challenges American has ever faced, our teams are working tirelessly to provide extraordinary support for each other, our customers and the communities we serve. We are planning for the future and stand together as one airline, working together as one industry, to continue to connect people across Asia Pacific and around the world through the wonder of air travel.