Boyd Group International President Mike Boyd weighs in on FOX Business Tonight
According to a new study, airline passengers may offer more protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.
According to researchers, the risk of passengers being exposed to the virus by an infected person on the plane can be reduced by 23% to 57% if the middle seats are empty, compared to a full flight.
The study, released Wednesday, supports the response of airlines that restricted seating early in the pandemic. However, all US airlines, except Delta, are now selling every seat they can, and Delta will stop blocking middle seats on May 1st.
DELTA CANCELS MORE THAN 100 FLIGHTS AS PANDEMIC TRAVEL
The airlines claim that filters and airflow systems on most aircraft make it safe when passengers wear face masks, as is now required by federal regulations.
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Kansas State University have estimated how far air particles travel in an airplane. They used display puppets that emitted aerosol to measure the flow of virus particles through airline cabin models.
However, the study did not take into account the wearing of face masks because it was based on a previous study done in 2017, before the pandemic.
WHAT DELTA’S BIG BETTING ON BLOCKING MIDDLE SEATS MEANS TO FLY
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAL | DELTA AIR LINES INC. | 48.17 | -0.09 | -0.19% |
| LUV | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. | 63.03 | -0.20 | -0.32% |
| ALK | ALASKA AIRLINE | 70.57 | +0.35 | + 0.50% |
| JBLU | JETBLUE AIRWAYS | 20.83 | +0.06 | + 0.29% |
It also did not consider whether passengers would be vaccinated against COVID-19. The CDC says that vaccinated people can travel at low risk for themselves, although the agency still recommends it against non-essential travel.
Airlines for America, a trading group for the largest U.S. carriers, said airlines use several low-cost measures to prevent the spread of the virus in aircraft, including face masks, asking passengers about their health and cleaning cabins. The group cited a report from Harvard University, which is funded by the airline industry, to show that the risk of transmitting the coronavirus on aircraft is very low.
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Airlines were divided last year over filling middle seats. While Delta, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue limited seats on aircraft, United Airlines never did and American Airlines only blocked seats for a short time. This was mostly an academic question, as relatively few flights were crowded last year. That is changing.
More than 1 million travelers have passed through American airports every day in the past month. Although it is down by more than one-third from the same period in 2019, there are now more flights. Around Easter weekend, Delta temporarily filled middle seats to accommodate passengers whose original flights were canceled due to staff shortages.