First holiday pilot flight with enthusiastic passengers took off
As part of the government pilot 'Safe and responsible travel during corona', the first holiday pilot flight from Transavia and Sunweb departed from Schiphol Airport this afternoon. The enthusiastic passengers, who were selected from more than 25,000 applicants, left for an eight-day all-inclusive holiday to the Mitsis Grand Beach hotel on Rhodes. This pilot holiday is a first step towards the perspective of being able to provide Dutch people with great holidays again this summer season. The aim of the holiday pilot is to gain new insights and collect data under which conditions people can go on holiday safely and responsibly.
After the corona rapid test at the Sheraton hotel, it was time for the passengers to check in at Transavia. The holidaymakers left together for the gate through passport control. Everything went as planned and the passengers adhered to the safety measures such as the 1.5 meter distance, the use of face masks and boarding at the gate in order. “We are ultimately jointly responsible for safe flying and travel ,” says Marcel de Nooijer, CEO of Transavia. “We are happy that we can now operate this first real holiday flight with Sunweb. It remains important that the government is committed to a clear European policy, which makes it clear to everyone which color codes apply per country or area and which measures and restrictions apply per destination. We are confident that those appointments will be made and that thanks to the scaling up of vaccinations, we will be able to use all our capacity this summer to take our passengers to their destination.”
Mattijs ten Brink, CEO of Sunweb Group: “The energy in the departure hall was palpable; all these holidaymakers are so happy that they can go on holiday again. I am therefore very proud that we have received the trust from the government to organize this holiday pilot together with Transavia. It is a first important step towards more perspective. Not only for the Dutch travel industry, but certainly also for all our partners at our destinations. They have already invested heavily last year and with the new insights that this pilot will provide, they can make the final preparations for a beautiful summer full of happy holidaymakers.”
It goes without saying that the insights gained from this pilot will be shared with the entire sector so that all partners in the travel industry can use them. The two organizations want nothing more than to offer the entire sector and all Dutch people who want to travel again a good perspective. The holiday pilot of Sunweb and Transavia is being evaluated by an independent agency.