First countries are relaxing travel regulations. The fight is now under which conditions Swiss and Co. may again transport passengers.
Updated 7 hours ago—
Swiss has parked part of its machines in Dübendorf. The flight offer is to be expanded again in June.
Photo: Ennio Leanza (Keystone)
There is still hope for the aviation industry. In many European countries, restrictions are loosened in good time before the summer holidays begin. Tourism associations are putting pressure on making international travel possible again to prevent the collapse of hotels and tour operators. But is that possible? Just get back on a tight plane with hundreds of other passengers without catching the corona virus?
The answer from the industry is a resounding yes. The industry has been working for weeks on ways to enable air travel on a large scale and claims that the health risks are very manageable.
At airports, the distance rules would have to be observed through new procedures for checking in and boarding. However, the airlines absolutely want to prevent them from having to vacate seats on board so that the passengers do not sit too close together. They argue that it is not economically feasible to fly half-empty planes around the area. And when it comes to health protection, it is also not necessary.
Empty seats means empty cash registers
The calculation is as follows: According to the International Air Transport Association (Iata), if the neighboring seat had to remain free, airlines could only sell 62 percent of all seats. Since all seats are rarely filled on a flight, the actual load factor would be significantly lower. However, airlines only earn money from an occupancy rate of around 75 percent – measured by the prices they reached before the crisis.
However, the Iata assumes that the prices in view of a huge supply – airlines want to use tens of thousands of aircraft standing around again as quickly as possible – and rather weak demand will fall well below the pre-crisis level by 2021. In order to have any chance of winning, the machines have to be filled even better. Or, according to the industry association, the prices would theoretically have to rise by half or more – but then fewer passengers would fly.
The problem could be avoided if, from a health protection perspective, there was nothing to prevent all seats from being filled. “There is no point in leaving the middle seat free,” says Airbus chief engineer Jean-Brice Dumont. The air in an airplane is completely exchanged every two to three minutes, there are filters that also work with viruses. The quality of the air corresponds to that in an operating room.
Swiss declares that it basically sells the middle seats – but only if the target country allows it.
The way in which the air circulates on board also helps with protection: it flows from top to bottom and is led under the cabin floor to the filters, where fresh air from the surroundings of the aircraft is also mixed in. It is much more important that the passengers and staff behave correctly, especially wearing masks, and that the aircraft are cleaned thoroughly.
Three suspected cases
On behalf of Iata, flight medical specialist David Powell examined the risk of catching Covid-19 on board aircraft. According to Powell, there has not been a single case in the studies published to date. A survey of airlines, which represent around 14 percent of global air traffic, revealed three suspected cases in which passengers could have been infected by crew members and four cases in which the transfer between pilots could have happened. However, it is unclear whether on board or afterwards in the hotel. Accordingly, passengers never infected each other.
Swiss declares that it basically resells the middle seats – but only if the target country allows it, which is not the case in Italy, for example. “If possible, we release the middle seats and sell them last,” adds a spokesman. In addition, all passengers are advised to wear a mask.
Published: 05/10/2020, 05:29 PM-
