Why Flying is Safer Than Grocery Shopping During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Aviation for Aviators
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Why Flying is Safer Than Grocery Shopping During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Yes, that title is correct. Flying is safer than grocery shopping during this global pandemic. How could flying on a plane, the main cause for the spread of COVID-19, be safer than grocery shopping? It may seem unbelievable, but it’s true. Even the thought of flying during the pandemic may terrify many people, but rest assured, the risk of contracting COVID-19 on an aircraft is significantly lower than the risk of contracting the virus from simple daily activities such as shopping in a store or eating in a restaurant.

Credit: Getty Images

To understand this phenomenon, one must first understand how air flows through an aircraft. At first thought, many people may think that air flows horizontally through a plane, from front to back. However, the truth is actually the opposite: Air flows vertically through a plane, moving up and down. Air flows from a vent above the seat into a lower compartment of a plane where a filtering system is located. The air is filtered out every 2 to 3 minutes using a high-efficiency particulate air filter, otherwise known as a HEPA filter, one of the most effective filtering systems in the world.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an organization made up of 290 airline companies across 120 different countries, “HEPA filters are effective at capturing greater than 99 percent of the airborne microbes in the filtered air… Virtually all viruses and bacteria are removed; even the most difficult particles in the range of 0.1 to 0.3 micron are filtered out with an efficiency level of 99.995%.” To confirm this, several experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a study using computer models to analyze the airflow in aircraft cabins and found these claims to be true. This shows that the filtering system in a plane is more than capable of filtering out virus particles such as COVID-19, since it filters close to 100% of the air every 2 to 3 minutes. On top of the HEPA filter, clean air from the outside is also passed into the cabin through the engines. This means that the air quality on a plane is exceptionally fresh and cleaner than almost all indoor spaces.

Credit: AeroTime. How air flows through an aircraft.

To even further ensure the safety of passengers, the United States Department of Defense and United Airlines conducted a six-month-long experiment to test the effectiveness of the specialized HEPA filter on airplanes. To conduct their experiment, a mannequin was placed on the aircraft, releasing around 180 million particles every test, the amount equivalent to the number of particles released from thousands of coughs. Sensors were placed on each seat of the plane, simulating the scenario of a plane at its full capacity. After 300 tests, the study found that “there is only a 0.003% chance particles from a passenger can enter the passenger’s breathing space who is sitting beside them” and that “99.99% of those particles left the interior of the aircraft within six minutes” (Benitez and Sweeney, 2020).

The results from this experiment were absolutely astonishing: They showed that passengers are highly unlikely to be in contact with the air someone else is breathing, even if that person is in the seat next to the passenger. United Airlines even stated that the possibility of getting COVID-19 on an aircraft is “virtually non-existent.” In fact, the probability is so low that the IATA classifies it “in the same category as being struck by lightning.” This means that travelling on a plane during the pandemic is safer than almost all daily activities, even eating.

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Credit: United Airlines.
Department of Defense along with United Airlines conducting a test to study the dispersal of air particles throughout an aircraft.
Credit: United Airlines.

Even after all of this, airlines are still taking additional precautions to ensure the safety of their passengers. An example of this is how airlines are currently requiring passengers to wear masks for the entire duration of a flight and deep cleaning the airplane before each flight. Some airlines are even practicing social distancing on a plane by blocking out certain seats. Masks prevent particles in the mouth from being dispensed into the air, therefore significantly reducing the probability of a virus particle from entering the air, which is something that most people should be familiar with by now.

To even further emphasize the safety of flying, it should be considered that all of these tests and precautions were done under the assumption that someone on the plane was infected with the virus, which is a restriction in which an airline won’t let the passenger onboard. Before checking in now, many airlines require passengers to comply with a survey, showing that they haven’t displayed symptoms of the virus for 14 days. Some airlines even require a negative coronavirus test. With these precautions to ensure someone infected with the virus doesn’t enter the aircraft, the probability of contracting the virus on a plane is probably even lower.

Credit: Delta Airlines. Delta Airlines check-in policy

Without a doubt, flying during the global pandemic is exceedingly safe since all current aircraft are equipped with a highly effective air filtration system that filters out almost 100% of the air every few minutes along with fresh air from the outside and prevents other people’s air from infiltrating one’s own breathing space. Airlines also enforce the rule of wearing masks for the entire duration of the flight, which severely reduces the amount of particles released from a person’s mouth. And even if someone’s mouth particles do escape their mask, those particles will not likely contain the virus, as passengers who enter the aircraft should not have the virus. With all these layers of protection and steps to ensure the safety of passengers, flying is one of the safest activities to do during the pandemic, and one can confidently assert that flying is safer than grocery shopping.


Works Cited (APA):

Benitez, G., & Sweeney, S. (2020). Risk of COVID-19 exposure on planes ‘virtually nonexistent’ when masked, study shows. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/risk-covid-19-exposure-planes-virtually-nonexistent-masked/story?id=73616599. 

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Muntean, P., & Wallace, G. (2020, October 27). Flying can be safer than grocery shopping, Harvard study asserts. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/flying-covid-19-harvard-study-wellness/index.html. 

(2018, January) Cabin air quality – Risk of communicable diseases transmission. IATA. https://www.iata.org/contentassets/f1163430bba94512a583eb6d6b24aa56/cabin-air-quality.pdf


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Airlines of the World

Cathay Pacific Chair and CEO report results from 2022, and expected recovery levels for this year

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In a press conference attended by Aviation for Aviators, Top executives at Cathay pacific reported on the company’s growth and recovery during the year before answering questions from the media. In the opening statement provided by the company’s chair, Patrick Healy, he talked about the recovery levels expected from the airline in the year, and the profits from the previous year.

(Image Credit: Wikidata)

The Company’s results

When talking about the year of 2022, Patrick Healy said “Our airlines and subsidiaries reported an attributable profit of 2.3 Billion dollars in the second half of 2022.” This indicates recovery at the airline, as this is reportedly the first time the company has made a profit since 2019. This matches many other airlines in the time period, as the industry begins to take back the areas which it has lost due to the pandemic. When talking about profits at Cathay Pacific, this not only includes the main area of the airline, but also their Cargo and Low cost airlines and firms as well. The Pandemic was particularly damaging to many of the airlines in East Asia, as China’s COVID regulations were harsh, and in some areas, are still being lifted. This is important because in most cases, China has the largest group of tourists travelling with east Asian airlines, and so for them to have harsh regulations would drastically decrease passenger numbers.

(Image credit: Cathay Pacific)

In terms of recovery this year, Healy Stated “By the end of March, as a group, we will be operating approximately 50% pre-pandemic flight capacity”, a figure which some might view to be low compared to others. However, when talking about recovery in terms of destinations, Healy said that they would be “Serving more than 70 destinations.” The Chair then continued to say that these numbers should be increasing by the end of the year. However these are still not close enough to the levels they were before the pandemic, as would be expected with most airlines.

How is Cathay Pacific ensuring that their fleet is as environmentally friendly as possible?

In answer to a question about the environment asked by Aviation for Aviators, Cathay Pacific’s CEO, Ronald Lam, Said: “Being a leader in sustainability is a very important part of our strategy moving forwards, and in fact we have announced our commitment for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050; as well as usage of 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel by 2030. We have been making plans and implementing actions to make this happen. So, for example, last year, we launched the first ever corporate sustainable aviation fuel program in Asia which is joined by a number of partners from different sectors. We are very encouraged by their participation. We have also signed up with a number of different parties sourcing for SAF for the future. We have an investment in a company called Fulcrum in the US in which they have offered to supply us with a good quality of sustainable aviation fuel for the future. And also we have signed up another company called Amadeus with uptake of SAF in the future. So we are working to us building more SAF supply to reach our 2030 target in the coming years. So that’s one main area, working on the SAF. Another Area, We will continue to upgrade our aircraft to new generation aircraft. From this year onward, we still have 48 firm aircraft orders that will be delivered. And each of those aircraft will provide up to 15-20% fuel efficiency and therefore lower carbon emissions compared to their counterparts in the older generation. So those are the two main focuses that we have on sustainability. “

(Image credit: Cathay Pacific)

In Simple terms, Cathay Pacific is making a commitment to the environment, in particular with the use of Sustainable Aviation fuel, that is, fuel which emits no negative impact on the environment. They also are trying to keep their fleet modern and efficient, to ensure that the least amount of damage is made.

(Image credit: ch-aviation)

In Conclusion, Cathay Pacific are making significant advancements in the way that they are recovering from the Pandemic and the damage which it has caused to the aviation industry. In terms of recovery, whilst progress may be slow, this is something expected of the airline as many others are going through similar things at the same time. With regards to environmental impact, Cathay Pacific is making commitments to make its aviation cleaner, with a new fleet and sustainable aviation fuel developments on the way.

Please Note: All information was taken from Cathay Pacific’s March 8th 2023 Press conference.

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Cover Image credit: NPR

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Airports

Why flying empty makes sense at the moment

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With the current spreading Omicron variant, many airlines have announced a reduced network for the upcoming weeks. Instead of slow growth, we see yet another fallback and the recovery of the industry seems still far away. In these times it seems logical to avoid any unnecessary costs, yet still Lufthansa (despite cancelling 33’000 flights in January and February) will fly more than 18000 flights empty. These flights are not for maintenance reasons, nor for aircraft positioning, nor for pilot training reasons or full with cargo. The reason lies within an absurd rule of the European Union regarding airport slots.

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What are airport slots?

In simple words: An airport slot is a time window when an airline is allowed to land and depart at any airport. As airport capacities (before COVID19) were limited, also the number of slots per time window was limited and the slots were a crucial instrument for any airline. Slots were seeing a high demand and good slots were difficult to get, as the “old” airlines had priority (“grandfather rights”), when the slots were distributed twice a year at an IATA conference. Any airline was keeping their slots unless they did not want them anymore. The only criteria were that they had used the slot in 80% or more in the last period.

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An airplane take off the airport
(Source: aerolatinnews.com)
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How is it now?

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When COVID19 started to affect our globe, it was clear that this 80% rule will not be met by any airline, as the industry collapsed. As an exemption, this criteria was not active and airlines could reapply for their slots, even though they had not used them a lot (slot waiver rule). This was done for the schedules of summer 2020 and winter 2020/2021. For the winter of 2021/2022, the European Union has once more reduced the value by 80%. This time 50% of all flights have to be operated to qualify for the grandfather rights. With the current situation, these flights could not be operated as demand is too low. To keep the rights for the slots, airlines now will fly empty to just use their slots at different airports.

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Conclusion

The slots are a crucial way to harmonize the global aviation network. It is of utmost importance that they are handled with a global view to match all needs. However; in a situation such as the pandemic we are in, criteria must be changed to not put the additional (unnecessary) cost to the airlines – not to forget the environmental aspect of these flights.

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Aviation

Thousands of pilots were forced into quarantine in Hong Kong

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Over the past 2 months, hundreds of pilots have been forced into three-week long quarantine periods in Hong Kong’s Penny’s Bay facility. The rooms consisted of converted shipping containers and people staying there were allowed no outdoor time. Pilots in the quarantine have come from a variety of airlines, like British Airways and Cathay Pacific.

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Expats forced to confront Hong Kong's 'brutal' Covid quarantine | Financial  Times
An image of the Penny’s Bay facility
(Credit: ft.com)
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A huge number of Cathay Pacific staff was forced into three-week quarantine after coming into contact with a COVID carrier in Frankfurt, Germany. Even though the crew’s PCR tests were negative, they were considered “potential close contacts”. The rooms were simple, with a bed and a bathroom, not much else. Hong Kong has imposed a strict testing and isolation regime to keep on track with China’s policies, but this is causing many pilots to isolate themselves when returning from abroad.

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Covid-19: Hong Kong's Penny's Bay quarantine centre has been unfairly  tarnished - here's the flip side - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
An image of a room in Penny’s Bay
(Credit: hongkongfp.com)
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The spread of the new Omicron variant is causing travel to be restricted a lot, and more and more pilots and crew are having to isolate. When pilots and crew first arrive in Hong Kong, they do a PCR test and wait for it. Those who are negative are told to isolate themselves at home. They are then told to “avoid unnecessary contact” for a further 18 days. If pilots test positive or are marked as close contacts, they are sent to the facility for 21 days. Family members are often sent to quarantine too.

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Air crew flying into Hong Kong also have to follow these rules, with crews from airlines such as KLM and British airways having to isolate. Luckily, a group of Hong Kong citizens has come to the rescue, providing supplies to people undergoing quarantine. These supplies often include food, as the food in Penny’s Bay is almost like something you might find in economy class on an airplane. This food is estimated to cost around 30 HK$, equivalent to £3 in the UK.

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Hong Kong Covid: The Cathay pilots stuck in 'perpetual quarantine' - BBC  News
An image of the food at the quarantine facility (Credit: bbc.co.uk)

Many pilots have been released before the end of their proposed quarantine, but that doesn’t mean that all have gone. People continue to be sent to Penny’s Bay and other facilities around Honk Kong, even though the city remains with very few coronavirus cases. For now, all we can say is that one of the largest aviation hubs is likely to stop having crews fly there in many cases.

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Sources:

  • bbc.co.uk
  • @flywitheva on Instagram
  • bloomberg.com (Cover Image)
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