Even as Covid-19 continues to rise in many parts of the U.S. and to return to many cities in Europe, travel and airline industry leaders continue to push for ways to allow and encourage more travel.
Much of the discussion centers around using testing to create testing-based ‘air corridors’ between countries, allowing travelers who test free of Covid-19 to travel and return without quarantine. For the industry, it’s ‘without quarantine’ that is the key; 14-day quarantines on 10-day trips don’t put passengers in seats, and the possibility of an unexpected quarantine on returning home chills the business even more.
The U.S. has been in negotiations with both the UK and Germany over possible flight corridors between London and the U.S. East Coast—the world’s most profitable route—and between the U.S. and Germany. While British and some U.S. newspapers are speculating that there might be an agreement in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is a grim reality that may make it impossible: the recent increase of Covid-19 cases in the UK and Germany.
Several UK cities and regions have just been returned to stricter pandemic rules, and Berlin is now officially a hotspot again. Earlier attempts at opening the business, based on infection rates in countries failed because of constant changes; while testing might ease that uncertainty, it would not ease the worry of traveling to a place that doesn’t require quarantine, but may not be safe.
Ironically, according to a report prepared for the International Air Transport Association, flying between infected countries is likely the safest part of the trip, with only 44 cases of Covid-19 attributed to transmission in flight. Citing a series of experiments on air flow and air filtering, IATA’s science and medical advisors concluded that “the risk of contracting the virus on board appears to be in the same category as being struck by lightning.” The studies were completed over a period of several months, including time before airlines began requiring masks for all passengers and crew
