Selling fewer seats on planes is not feasible

Limit or sell less seats in airplanes as a measure of social distancing is not feasible secún informó THERE IT IS in a new statement.

Given the outlook that is coming for the industryérea, where the economic factorsómonkeys to affectán to everyone and the need to regain the trust of travelers, aerolílines and airports They propose new protective measuresón and health care.

What we review hereí, the aerosolsíneas already implement strict measures such as the mandatory use of masks during all stages and duration.óflight number, differentiated boarding, desinfecciódeep n and other new protocols.

In this way, one of the possibilities that más debate has generated, is not to sell the middle seats on airliners 3 and 4 seats and even, reduce to 50% aircraft capacity 2 seating.

Selling fewer seats is not the solutionón

IATA does not recommend restricting the use of «center seat» to create social distancing on board an aircraftón.
The evidence, although limited, suggests that the risk of transmissionóNo of viruses on board an airplaneón is low, even without special measures.

It must be remembered that aircraft maintain constant circulation.ón of air at least every 3 minutes and this is renewed and passes through the HEPA filters that retain the 99% the virus, making aircraft a fairly clean environment.

Restricting or limiting the sale of seats on airplanes couldíto generate an increase in ticket values, what to affectá directly to the user and recoveryón of the industry, because the aerosolsíneas mustán «transfer» the value that will beíthe dress «middle passengers» to other users.

We need to remember, that when government restrictions are lifted, distancing on board airplanesá orgánico, due to the low demand that existsá initially.

Measures to reduce the already low risk of transmissionón on board

The general measures that have been proven to work to reduce the risk of contagion are the following recommended by IATA:

• IATA recommends mandatory face coverings for passengers and máscars for the crewón as one of several actions to reduce the already low risk of contracting COVID-19 on board aircraft.
• Además of facial coverings, These layers of temporary biosecurity measures that are proposed include:
• Passenger temperature control, airport workers and travelers,
• Boarding and disembarkation processes that reduce contact with other passengers or crewón,
• Limit movement inside the cabin during flight,
• Cabin cleaning más frequent and deep; and
• Simplified catering procedures reduce crew movementón and the interactionón with passengers.
• When it is tested and isé available at scale, COVID-19 tests or immunity passports tooécan'títo be included as temporary biosafety measures.

¿COVID-19 is transmitted on a flight?

• Contact tracing of a flight from China to Canadaá with a symptomatic passengeráThe tico COVID-19 no realló no transmissionón on board.
• Contact tracing of a flight between China and the United States with 12 symptomatic passengersáCOVID-19 symptoms did not revealó no transmissionón on board.

An informal IATA survey of 18 aerolíneas principales identifyó, during January-March 2020, only three episodes of suspected transmissionón in flight of COVID-19, all from passengers to crewón. Four other episodes were reports of transmissionón apparent from pilot to pilot, what couldíeven having been in flight or before/afterés (including scale).

There were no cases of suspected transmissionón from passenger to passenger.

An examáIATA's detailed information on contact tracing 1,100 passengers (spaghettién during the periodífrom January to March 2020) who were confirmed for COVID-19 afterés of the trip toéreo no reveló no transmissionósecondary n between the más de 100,000 passengers on the same flights. Solo se encontraron dos casos posibles entre los miembros de la tripulación.

There are several plausible reasons why COVID-19, transmitted primarily by respiratory droplets, no ha resultado en una mayor transmisión on board, and whyé transportation toéreo es diferente de otros modos de transporte público:

• Forward-facing passengers with limited face-to-face interactions.
• Los asientos proporcionan una barrera para la transmisión hacia adelante o hacia adentro de la cabina.
• El flujo de aire desde el techo hasta el piso reduce aún más el potencial de transmisión hacia adelante o hacia atrás en la cabina, además, las tasas de flujo de aire son altas y no conducen a la propagación de gotas de la misma manera que en otros ambientes interiores.
• High efficiency particulate air filters (HEPA) en los aviones modernos limpian el aire de la cabina a la calidad del quirófano del hospital, con la ayuda de altos niveles de circulación de aire fresco

Además, even if it's mandatory, keep open the «center seat» no logrará la separación recomendada para que el distanciamiento social sea efectivo. The biggestíof the authorities recommend 1 metro a 2 meters, while the average width of the seat is less than 50 cm and backás de 35 centímeters.