Air travel amid Covid-19 – safe or not? Harvard study, and report on 59 infections from Ireland flight, offer different views on the risks
- A study from Harvard commissioned by the airline industry claims flying during the coronavirus pandemic is less dangerous than eating out or grocery shopping
- However, a Covid-19 outbreak, affecting 59 people aboard or linked to a seven-hour flight to Ireland, has shown in-flight transmission is still a major concern
The latest study from the airline industry has said flying during the coronavirus pandemic is less risky than eating out or grocery shopping, but a Covid-19 outbreak linked to a seven-hour flight to Ireland is raising renewed concerns about in-flight transmission.
A 187-page study by Harvard scientists released this week concluded that air travel “is as safe as or substantially safer than the routine activities people undertake during these times”.
The study points to the ventilation systems on planes that refresh the air every two to three minutes, and new measures including heavy-duty disinfecting, strict face mask enforcement and social distancing during boarding and deplaning. The Harvard researchers said the ventilation system in the cabin “effectively counters the proximity travellers are subject to during flights”.
The relatively rosy report from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s new Aviation Public Health Initiative (APHI), paid for by airlines, plane manufacturers and airports, came to similar conclusions as other recent studies promoted or sponsored by the industry.
“The fact that all of these different research studies are consistent with one another we think is significant,” said Leonard Marcus, director of the APHI. He and other scientists on the project said Harvard was “very adamant” about maintaining its independence and that airlines and other sponsors recognised and respected that position.