Airlines and fliers, get on board with precautions

Not many people would choose to ride out the coronavirus pandemic in a crowded tin box. That’s why passenger demand for air travel has fallen as much as 90 percent. Of course, there’s also little reason to book a f light right now.

Slowly, the window for flying will reopen, presuming rates of COVID-19 infection continue to decline. Some people will have important personal or professional reasons to board aircraft in the next few months, even without much of a summer vacation season.

They’ll fly, if they feel safe. Do airlines understand this? They do if they agree with Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, whose employees are dressed head to toe in personal protective equipment. “Going through an airport, the whole travel experience, will be as enjoyable as open-heart surgery,” he told Bloomberg News. It’s a pithy quote with an important message:

Air travel will return more quickly if airlines, airports and travelers commit to obsessive hygiene.

Carriers and airports need to rethink every step in the flying process. Thermal scans of body temperatures in terminals, frequent disinfecting scrubdowns of cabins and new boarding procedures to reduce passenger crowding in the aisles all appear part of the mix, according to The Wall Street Journal. That seems prudent to us. Cleaner is safer.

CDC guidelines state that airline crew members and front-line employee should wear face masks or coverings, so we expect that to be the norm. What also needs to be enforced is a mandatory passenger dress code: We wouldn’t want to see anyone on our flight without a mask. Airlines are requiring face coverings, but they sound hesitant about enforcement because they don’t want confrontations.

Flyers, this is on you. Protect yourselves and everyone else on board. You want to be on an airplane with other people? Keep your face covered.

Our request to airlines during this unsettling period is to give your customers more space. Don’t overcrowd your planes, and if you make promises to fly with fewer passengers, keep those promises. This is a tricky situation, we know. Carriers have drastically reduced the number of flights. Any airline that promises emptier f lights throughout the summer and an unoccupied middle seat is more likely to get our business.

The more the airlines can do to give the public confidence, the more likely travelers will consider flying again.