Worried about COVID risk on a flight? Here’s what you can do to protect yourself and how airlines can step up

Air travel health advice so far has mainly focused on how to stay hydrated and avoid deep vein thrombosis. What passengers really want, however, is more attention to infection prevention and disease control, free masks, free hand sanitizer, and more space between passengers on the plane.

That’s according to our new study, published in the journal Infection, Disease and Health, which drew on survey responses from 205 frequent flyers around the world.

Airline bookings are likely to increase as borders open between New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

The aviation industry, which has been decimated by COVID-19, must work hard to restore customer confidence in their commitment to infection control measures.

Here’s what you need to know if you’re planning on taking a plane trip soon, and what airlines can do to reduce the risk.

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Find out more: Airplane cabins are a germ paradise. Here’s how they can clean up their act

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Air travel and COVID risk: what you need to know

Adopting a set of established infection prevention and control measures will help minimize the risk of contracting COVID during a flight.

We would want to if we had to, but we would follow the same steps we would take if we took a train or another form of public transport.

These measures include, but are not limited to:

• stay at home if you feel unwell. Even if you have milder respiratory symptoms, such as a slight sore throat or a hint of fever, you shouldn’t go to the airport and you shouldn’t take a plane. Self-isolate and get tested without delay
• wash your hands regularly or use alcohol-based hand rubs systematically
• observe the physical distance
• sit and avoid touching your face
• where it is not possible to physically move away, wear a face mask.

These are the same long-standing recommendations you should follow anyway, whether you’re taking the train to work or grocery shopping.

Using these well-established infection control measures routinely and systematically will reduce the risk of contracting COVID while traveling by air.

Passengers want more from airlines

The main finding of our study is that the flight public, especially frequent flyers, wants more from their airlines on how to protect themselves from infectious diseases.

We interviewed 205 adults who fly frequently on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn about what they think airlines need to do to restore passenger confidence and safety.

We found:

• 75.6% reported feeling “a little” to “extremely” worried about contracting an infectious disease while flying, especially respiratory-related infectious diseases
• Only 9.8% think their favorite airline considers their health a “top priority”
• 86.8% wanted airlines to provide free hand sanitizer
• 86.8% wanted airlines to provide free hygiene wipes
• 64.4% wanted airlines to provide free masks
• 90.7% wanted airlines to provide more information on preventing the spread of infections, which would make the majority feel safer to fly.

More than half of the respondents reported never bringing their alcohol-based hand sanitizer or sanitary wipes on flights in the past. The women surveyed were more likely to carry alcohol-based hand sanitizers or sanitary wipes during the flight.

We also asked respondents how often they wore a face mask before COVID, to protect themselves from infectious diseases while traveling by air. The vast majority (83.4%) said they had never worn one.

However, the majority (83.4%) reported that to “some extent” they would feel safe to fly if all passengers and staff were required to wear face masks during the flight.

In other words, our study showed that people are truly ready to engage in risk-reducing behaviors, some of which they expect airlines to support and others that they support on their own.

COVID-19 spreads around the world on airplanes

According to the International Air Transport Association, since early 2020 there have been “44 reported cases of COVID-19 where transmission is thought to have been associated with air travel (including confirmed, probable and potential cases).”

It is important to note that COVID-19 is a disease that spreads globally very quickly, via infected travelers.

Like many countries, Australia has imposed mandatory quarantine for international arrivals, where infection in travelers is identified. This shows that we, passengers and airlines, must do all we can to implement adequate infection control measures in air travel.

Many airlines have introduced measures to reduce COVID-19 risk, such as temperature screening, physical distances to check-in, and encouraging masks at the airport. Okay, but research tells us passengers want more.

As promising results emerge from the numerous COVID-19 vaccine trials underway around the world, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said:

We are looking to change the terms and conditions to tell international travelers that we will ask people to get vaccinated before boarding the plane.

Vaccination is a very important way to prevent the spread of the disease and it is useful for airlines to signal that vaccines are on the way and are important to them.

We still have a long way to go before vaccines are available and we still don’t know much, such as how long immunity from a vaccine might last or whether booster doses might be needed. So there are a number of factors to consider if airlines need to enforce vaccination for their passengers.

Joyce also said it would be “uneconomical” to leave the center seat empty in each row, pointing out instead that his aircraft’s air conditioning units are equipped with hospital-grade HEPA filters, which remove 99.9% of all particles, including viruses.

HEPA filters in enclosed spaces make sense and are important. But they are not the whole and they end everything. If I’m next to someone on a plane who unknowingly has COVID-19 and isn’t wearing a face mask and sneezes on me, and its droplets get into my eyes, nose or mouth, then I’m at risk of contracting COVID. – 19 despite HEPA filtration in the cabin.

In other words, the best protection comes from the systematic adoption of basic measures. This includes staying home, isolating yourself, and getting tested if you have even the mildest symptoms. It means regular hand hygiene, avoid touching your face, physically walking away, and using a face mask if you can’t physically walk away.

Practicing these routine measures, along with other measures like cabin air filtration, goes a long way in protecting us from infectious diseases when flying.

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Read more: Why the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is now a global game changer

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