Underwritten by German insurer HanseMerkur, Eurowings plans to add complimentary Covid-19 insurance for all passengers booking flights with the airline until the end of 2021, providing the bookings are made before the end of 27 September. After this date, passengers will be required to purchase the booking as an optional add-on.

The insurance policy will cover:

• Trip cancellation due to Covid-19 (should a customer not be able to travel due to testing positive for the virus or due to failing a temperature check at the airport)
• Covid-19 related medical expenses (should a customer require a hospital visit or emergency repatriation due to illness)
• Covid-19 related travel interruption (including needing an extended stay in a destination due to changes in border regulations)

Trip cancellation cover offers more security to customers

Eurowings’ new offering looks likely to qualm concerns over trip disruption and cancellation due to Covid-19, and follows a string of other airlines offering Covid-19 innovations, including Air France and WestJet, who have enhanced their services to include Covid cover, and Air Canada and Qantas Airlines, who are respectively now offering unlimited travel passes and flights to nowhere.

Demand for flights have caused the industry to adapt. “People want to fly and travel, but with more security in [these] uncertain times,” the company said on Twitter. “We deliver this in the form of a new coronavirus insurance.”