Luxwing commercial director Daniele Guida admits that the coronavirus pandemic was initially frightening, but says that the company's workforce is adapting well to new measures. The operator made a positive start to 2020, having received approval for dangerous goods including explosive and radioactive material. Its jet card programme has been well received, and it has managed to retain loyal customers.

Reorganisation was the first challenge thrown up by COVID-19: “We needed to keep our customers safe, while having to deal with the dislocation of our employees,” Guida explains. “They had to adapt to home working solutions, displacing our operations and making things complicated. But with perseverance it put us in the condition to make ourselves better.

“Like all unexpected events, it has given us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves and put us on the frontline. We made more than 100 repatriation flights between the end of March and April. Some people were blocked in a foreign country with no possibility of return; some families had been quarantined for more than 40 days, and we also carried out diplomatic requests for embassies.”

He really hopes that things can return to normal eventually, although the timescale remains a mystery. “But this must not demoralise us, so my greatest hope is that the reality in which we are plunged does not prevent us from making ourselves better and better, as we have promised ourselves to do. Many steps forward have been made and these are undoubtedly our greatest pride.

“Our continuous growth makes us increasingly fully satisfied with the work we are doing, giving us full awareness that there is still a long way to go; but this can only spur us on to continue our ambitious project, There are five new planes coming in for 2020 and a big project that will start before the winter season.”