Question and Answer with Dr. David Powell, Medical Advisor, International Air Transport Association (IATA)

Catch the full episode here.

TRANSCRIPT:

(1) What are the risks of contracting, or being infected by, COVID-19 on a flight?

Overall the risk of contracting COVID-19 in flight appears to be low. Based on discussions, with large number of airlines and public health authorities as well as the published literature, we know there are handful of cases where transmission appears to have occurred onboard, but those are very much the exception, by contrast public health authorities in one country have followed up 1,100 confirmed cases with flu and found no evidence of any passenger to passenger transmission. So it appears to be very much the exception that transmission occurs onboard. Possible reasons for that, we think, includes the fact that people sit still and they are not facing one another, there is a physical barrier of the seat backs themselves, and of course, the fact that airflow tends to be from ceiling towards the floor. So it’s carrying the droplets mostly in the downward direction.

(2) How clean is the air in a cabin?

The air that supplies to the cabin is extremely pure, a combination of 100% fresh air and some recycled air that goes through the HEPA filter of the same sort that we use in operating theatres, which is designed to take out all microorganisms. So the air supply entering the cabin is very pure and any risk that remains is only from being close to somebody who's infectious at that time and maybe shedding droplets from expired breath. 

(3) Why is there no need for physical distancing on a flight?

Physical distancing is an effective mechanism for separating people in other indoor environments where air circulation may be poor. In flight, we believe there is much lower because of the nature of the air circulation, and of course, it’s also much more difficult to achieve physical distancing in that environment. We also don’t think that it’s necessary given the low transmission risk that we’ve observed onboard, to try and have multiple empty seats on every flight. What we’ve instead proposed as a layer of protection is (literally) the use of face coverings for all passengers to cover the situation where somebody’s flown without being aware that they are infectious at the time. 

(4) How does wearing a mask/face covering on a flight help?

The use of face coverings, of course, at the beginning of the epidemic, was something that we didn’t advise, but that was in the situation we’re trying to protect the wearer from an unwell person. Now that the virus is so widespread in many, many communities, the use of face coverings is advised for everybody in a public situation where you can’t achieve physical distancing, as a means to protect the wearer from infecting anybody else, if they are infectious without knowing, and so it provides a physical barrier which is very effective and can remove about 90% of the forward flow of the droplets from anybody who could be infectious.

(5) What can I do to protect myself when travelling by plane?

Well a lot of these things are the same things we’ve been advising all along through the pandemic.

1. Do not travel when you’re unwell

2. Pay close attention to the surfaces that you touch, and that includes onboard the aircraft 

3. Hand hygiene, absolutely crucial, so try to avoid touching your face or if you do, then sterilise your hands before and afterwards. Wash your hands frequently, if possible. If not, then use an alcohol based hand rub. 

Now, there are a number of mechanisms that are in place during the airport journey and the flight journey itself to also minimise contact with other people, and those include what we’ve advised, which is the use of face coverings onboard.