Social distancing not feasible on the plane
Added on Thu May 14th, 2020
The lockdown due to the coronavirus has almost completely blocked air traffic. These days, however, many countries start to relax the security measures. A lot of people are wondering how we will return to travel on planes.
Europe’s airlines are ready to welcome people back to flying gradually. They say this can be done while maintaining health protections, but this does not need to include social distancing between passengers. Social distancing is neither necessary nor viable on board an aircraft.
There is an active debate within the industry about whether spacing out passengers would work in planes. Some airlines have floated the idea and most are already keeping middle seats empty on the few flights that are operating. Others, like Ryanair, would refuse to fly under such conditions.
Health experts have pointed out that keeping empty a middle seat would not respect the recommended social distancing: this means that each passenger would need roughly seven seats.
The European Commission is preparing to unveil a set of rules for the safe reopening of air travel. Measures being considered include compulsory face masks and disinfection of planes and social distancing requirements in airports.
The most important element in saving the aviation sector from collapse while also safeguarding peoples’ health will be enacting measures in a coordinated way across countries.
Read the full article of Forbes.
Read also Coronavirus: anti-infection seats on the plane.
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