Boeing Wants to Calm Your Fears About Air Travel in a Covid-19 World
By Al Root
May 17, 2020 11:55 am ET
Boeing is launching its Confident Traveler Initiative to build consumer confidence about getting on a plane. That means, in part, the flying public will learn a lot about a topic they never knew they cared about: air circulation inside an aircraft cabin.
Boeing (ticker: BA) last week named Mike Delaney, vice president of digital transformation at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, to lead the initiative. His job: To “minimize air travel health risks” in a Covid-19 world.
It’s a big job. Airlines, airport operators, and aviation regulators are trying to come up with standards for the commercial air-travel industry. Issues such as how and where to screen passengers’ temperatures—as well as what chemicals are acceptable for wiping down plane interiors—are all up for debate.
Marshaling consensus between those stakeholders feels daunting. That part of Delaney’s job will be hard. But he will also be tasked with educating the flying public on technologies already part of every Boeing jet. That part of his job might be a little easier.
All modern aircraft, for instance, are equipped with high-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filters, which are 99.9+% effective at removing particulates, including viruses. And a lot of outside air passes through those filters, Jim Haas, Boeing commercial airplanes director of product development, explains to Barron’s.
Haas is confident in the cabin air quality. He has three points. First, air coming into the cabin is clean, from outside the jet and is filtered. Second, air flows vertically from the luggage bins to the floor. The air doesn’t move from front to back—which, he says, limits the spread of airborne particulates around the cabin. Third, the air in a cabin is completely new, exchanged with outside air, every two to three minutes.
Of course, he understands and advocates for improved health measures. Masks, more hand washing, and more sanitization between flights will all be de rigueur for air travel in the future. What’s more, passengers are probably going to come equipped with their own disinfecting wipes to rub down trays, seat belts, and armrests.
How fast people will get back on planes is still being hotly debated. Wall Street doesn’t see traffic returning to 2019 levels for years . Industry insiders predict a long road to recovery too. Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard noted in a Thursday research report the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, predicts international travel won’t reach 2019 levels until 2023 or 2024.
No one, it seems, expects a rapid recovery in travel. IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac noted in a recent media briefing that many countries still have two-week quarantines mandated for anyone entering from abroad. Fourteen days in a hotel room will crush the desire for an international vacation. A more travel-friendly system will need to be worked out.
No one really know yet what the recovery will look like. And a lot of questions remain. But expanded health measures and consumer education can only help.
All the uncertainty—and the Covid-19 lockdowns, and lingering concerns over the safety of its 737 MAX jet —have hammered Boeing shares. The stock is off about 64% year to date, trailing far behind the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com |
