Air travelers’ worry over social distancing onboard

WITH the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and its disastrous impact on air travels in particular, safety awareness has doubled if not tripled amongst air travelers for obvious reasons.

It is a fact that the wide spread of the pandemic was made possible through air transport as the safest and fastest means of connectivity to other parts of the world. In other words, you can have your breakfast in Lagos and enjoy your dinner in London the same day courtesy of air transport.

No wonder, the outbreak of CORONAVIRUS dealt and is still dealing unimaginable blow to air travels in view of the preventive measures so far introduced around the globe to thwart the further damage being inflicted on lives and economy by the pandemic.

After so long period of suspension of flight operations in Nigeria like other countries across the world, the business of air travels is again gradually picking up with the gradual reopening of airports and return of flights.

As cheering as the news about the resumption of flights should be, one obvious fact is that despite the tireless efforts of the federal government’s task force committee on CORONAVIRUS committee like those from nations around the world, air travelers are still scared of boarding an aircraft to get to their desired destinations.

Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, there were some classes of people who could travel only by air for so many reasons ranging from safety, speed, business accomplishment, pleasure among other reasons.

With the gradual reopening of air travels, it is expected that this set of people will rush out to embrace this development, but lo and behold, many of this group are still holding back out of fear for safety of lives.

The fear being displayed by this group and many other passengers are not far from the fact that the COVID-19 virus which is highly contagious can be caught airborne and through large gatherings which all tilted towards air travels.

Before the lift of the suspension on air travels, relevant aviation authorities like the International Air Transport Association (IATA), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on one hand, the airlines and air travelers on the other hand had raised questions about the need to extend the physical social distancing measure introduced to curtail the spread of the virus at the airports to aircraft.

IATA had explained that there was no requirement for social distancing measures on board the aircraft from highly respected aviation authorities such as the US Federal Aviation Administration, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the ICAO.

Besides the professional assurances given by the international bodies and with the general believe that social distancing is not required on board aircraft, it has also been analyzed why the virus cannot be easily transmitted on board flight with some components installed in the aircraft.

To allay the fears of passengers, relevant bodies and key players have maintained that the probability of contracting the virus on board aircrafts are slim in view of the High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) system installed in the aircraft.

Attesting to this, Nigeria’s minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika had declared “The air flow is not from the cock pit to the rear, it is from the top down and exit downward and get recirculated through that filter because of that, the chances of the microorganisms, viruses, bacteria and all of those particles to land on you is reduced even with thesystem of circulation itself.”

Even the , the Director-General, Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Gilbert Kibe while adding his voice said with the HEPA filters that capture well over 99.999 per cent of germs, including the Coronavirus in the cabin,  there was no cause for alarm hence; “Being in an aircraft itself is a more safer environment that the airport.”

With all the analysis given coupled with the built of the aircraft, more so, when all passengers would have been made to go through all health safety screenings before being allowed to board, the chances of contracting the virus is almost impossible.

Therefore, while passengers should not exercise fears about travel by air vis a vis their safety, there is however the need for governments in Nigeria and around the world to do all within their powers to protect air travelers through the constant review of the safety components onboard aircraft.

Since passengers have the right to exercise fears in view of the havoc the pandemic had unleashed, the onus falls on governments to do everything possible to woo passengers back to air travels. At the end of the matter, it will take a long time for the scar created by COVID-19 to erase from global aviation.

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