KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Data of in-flight Covid-19 infections showed the risk contracting the disease aboard a commercial passenger plane was at most one in 2.7 million, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and three aircraft manufacturers.
Citing confirmed cases of in-flight Covid-19 infections, the IATA, Boeing, Airbus and Embraer said only 44 cases were verified from the approximately 1.2 billion air travellers since the beginning of the year.
IATA medical advisor Dr David Powell said this represented one case for every 27 million travellers during the period examined.
“We recognize that this may be an underestimate but even if 90 per cent of the cases were unreported, it would be one case for every 2.7 million travellers. We think these figures are extremely reassuring.
“Furthermore, the vast majority of published cases occurred before the wearing of face coverings inflight became widespread,” Dr Powell said in the joint release by the IATA and three planemakers.
One possible reason why the incidence of Covid-19 infections was low given that passengers were confined in a closed space for extended periods was the airflow designs within commercial passenger jet cabins.
Modern planes were typically equipped with high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters as well as designed to induce downward in-cabin airflow to minimise the potential risk of disease.
This was supplemented by the physical barriers of the seatbacks as well as new measures introduced such as mandatory facial covers as well as restricted movement of passengers.
According to the joint release, the three manufacturers conducted studies of air flow within their planes to learn how air droplets could spread, accounting for coughing and sneezing.
They concluded that the risk to passengers seated next to each other was approximately the same as if they were two metres away from one another in a typical office building.
IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac conceded that the studies did not mean there was a zero chance of infection on board any flight.
“But with just 44 published cases of potential inflight Covid-19 transmission among 1.2 billion travellers, the risk of contracting the virus on board appears to be in the same category as being struck by lightning,” de Juniac said.
Airlines across the globe have effectively been forced to ground the majority of their fleets as most countries have closed their borders to non-essential travellers in an attempt to contain the world-stopping Covid-19 pandemic.
This has also forced many of the same airlines to the brink of bankruptcy, including here in Malaysia.
