Flying Sanitized: How Air Travel May Change Forever After Coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic has hit commercial aviation hard, and many of us who are used to flying frequently find ourselves wondering when we might fly again. Perhaps more importantly, how different will it look when we do?
“Welcome to the airline flight of 2021. Before boarding, please walk through the disinfection tunnel and thermal scanner, and have your bags ‘sanitagged.’ You won’t find any in-flight magazine to entertain you on board, but look out for the disinfectant wipes as part of the in-flight service.”
Touchless cabins and check-in terminals. They say “seatback pockets will be left empty and there will be touchless kiosks (scan via a code, or even through voice commands) in airport terminals.” Abu Dhabi is reportedly now trialling touchless check-in kiosks that can even scan passengers for basic health and direct them to further screening if for example, they appear to have a fever.
In-flight janitors. Just as we saw Sky Marshalls on planes after 9/11, they say, we may now come to expect janitors onboard planes whose only job is to make sure the cabin is kept clean as can be throughout the flight.
“Sanitagging” of bags. We may be in for yet another added step at the airport with bags needing to pass through “fogging, electrostatic or UV-disinfection.”
Travelers may need to pass through thermal scanners and disinfection tunnels. Much of the existing seating in gate areas and so on will be closed off to ensure physical distancing.
Finally, airplanes will need to undergo a deep clean after every flight, which will put pressure on turnaround times. Low-cost airlines especially have used quick turns of planes to keep utilization up and costs down, so this may come as a particular shock to them.
