Research on the connection between Covid-19 and ights

According to research, the risk of a passenger contracting Covid-19 while onboard appears very low

New research released by e International Air Transport Association (IATA) has concluded that there is a low risk of catching Covid-19 in ight as a result of the new safety measures airlines have put in place. IATA’s research has identi ed just 44 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in which transmission is thought to have been associated with a ight journey.

e number includes those cases before the widespread wearing of face masks. e number is inclusive of con rmed, probable and potential cases. Over the same period of the 44 cases, IATA says “some 1.2 billion passengers have travelled”.

Dr. David Powell, IATA’s Medical Advisor says, “e risk of a passenger contracting Covid-19 while onboard appears very low. With only 44 identi ed potential cases of

ight-related transmission among 1.2 billion travellers, that’s one case for every 27 million travellers. We recognise that this may be an underestimate but even if 90 per cent of the cases were un-reported, it would be one case for every 2.7 million travellers.”

Airlines have emphasised new safety measures including face masks, increased cleaning of aircra and the HEPA lters on board which circulate clean air with a hospital like e ciency. All of these measures are likely to be needed, according to other research.

IATA’s research comes in a joint publication by Airbus, Boeing and Embraer of separate computational uid dynamics (CFD) research conducted by each manufacturer in their aircra .

Nevertheless, it seems face masks are an essential extra layer of protection. iata.org