Government Study Says Commercial Air Travel Poses Little COVID Risk
1 The United States Transportation Command (aka USTRANSCOM) released results from its Commercial Aircraft Cabin Aerosol Dispersion Test, showing that the exposure risk to aerosolized pathogens — such as coronavirus — is very low on commercial aircraft. After completing the test, the government rejected our idea to name the test CACADT, under the reasoning that CACADT was too long and clunky.
The military used non-elite members of various airlines mannequins with and without masks on its test aircraft while fluorescent tracer particles were released at intervals to simulate breathing for a minute. Tests were performed both on the ground and in-flight on United 767-300 and 777-200 aircraft. To simulate real-life flying conditions, the mannequins were dressed in Polaris pajamas and served watered-down mixed drinks.
Results showed that the aerosol released to mimic virus transmission was rapidly diluted in the air and that particles remained traceable for less than six minutes — compared to 90 minutes in the typical American home.
The combination of the high air exchange and the HEPA filtration system aboard the aircraft result in a commercial aircraft’s air supply providing greater protection than that of a patient isolation room or a hospital room.
We understand that upon hearing the news, Spirit immediately began considering adding a fee of nine cents per passenger per particle filtered out by onboard HEPA filters as part of a “safe-breathing fee.” Legacy airlines American, Delta, and United plan to continue the HEPA filters on flights that consist of 50% or more elites on-board, while Southwest will continue to offer clean air to those who purchase EarlyBird boarding.
Bain Capital Replaces Virgin Australia CEO
2 Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah will be leaving the airline within the week, depending on how long it takes him to clean his belongings out of his office. Scurrah was planning on keeping Virgin Australia as a full-service carrier competing head-to-head with rival Qantas, but Bain Capital is choosing to take more of a hybrid model, splitting the difference between legacy carrier Qantas and LCC Jetstar.
Rumors say that Bain pulled the plug on being a full-service legacy carrier after the Italian government said that’s the direction it would be going in with ITA — its latest reincarnation of Alitalia. Bain just assumed if that’s what was happening to Alitalia, it wasn’t a good idea.
Scurrah will be replaced by former Jetstar CEO Jayne Hrdlicka who previously worked at Bain Capital before her time at both Qantas and Jetstar. Hrdlicka was an adviser for Bain during the acquisition of Virgin earlier in 2020.
Virgin’s unions are skeptical of the change, concerned that Bain and Hrdlicka will pivot the airline to more of a LCC model, hurting its members in the future in the form of reduced salaries and fewer jobs overall. The unions were in favor of Scurrah remaining in the CEO position and supposedly shocked by the change. The pilots union has decided to halt all negotiations with the airline while waiting to see how the leadership change shakes out and what direction the airline goes in.
Singapore & Hong Kong Plan Travel Bubble
3 The governments of Singapore and Hong Kong have agreed on a travel bubble, allowing residents in both cities to travel without any form of quarantine with proof of a negative test.
Those traveling between the two cities will not have to provide an itinerary or details of their movements during travels. The bubble calls on airlines operating routes between the two hubs to provide dedicated service without any transit passengers allowed on the flights.
The exact date the bubble will launch is not yet known, but the two governments are working out the details with a hope of launching the bubble prior to the start of the holiday season.
Hong Kong is hoping to form travel bubbles with as many as ten other destinations including Singapore: Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, and Vietnam. Shockingly, that list does not include the United States or other COVID-friendly nations such as India, Brazil and Russia.
Ryanair Revises Winter Schedule, Closes Bases
4 Ryanair released a revised winter schedule today, expecting to fly approximately 40% of its schedule from last winter, a drop of the previously planned 60%. The airline will maintain much of its network but will reduce frequencies in most markets.
Ryanair will be closing three bases for the winter in Cork (ORK), Shannon (SNN), and Toulouse (TLS). In addition to the three closures, it will cut aircraft at its bases in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and Spain.
Ryanair is now projecting 38 million passengers next year, but — as always — makes that projection with a pout on its face saying that it could be forced to lower the projection if EU governments continue to “mismanage air travel” while imposing more lockdowns.
What we need is to have EU government leaders and Michael O’Leary switch jobs for a month. Let him run the EU and its pandemic response and have the EU run Ryanair. Then we can see who knows what the hell they’re talking about. Just imagine the nickel and dime fees O’Leary could implement if he were running government for a few weeks. Endless possibilities.
Qatar Launches Vegan Options
5 Qatar Airways introduced new vegan options for its premium passengers flying out of Doha as well as on limited flights into the airport.
New dishes include smoked moutabel, spiral courgettes and arrabbiata sauce, tofu and spinach tortellini, Asian barbecue tofu, noodles, scallions and shiitake, fried tofu with vegetable tajine, cauliflower couscous and kalamata bruschetta, and chickpea flour omelette. We’re told all of that is food, but have not confirmed with a second source.
The options will be available to premium class passengers in-flight, while those in economy can access the vegan options by making a special meal request prior to travel or bringing their own carrot sticks.
Airline Potpourri
- Air Canada plans to resume service on its Vancouver-Sydney route with 3x-weekly flights beginning December 10.
- Air Transat is consolidating its service to Portugal in November and December, offering a once-weekly triangle flight nicknamed “The Isosceles” from Toronto/Pearson to Porto and then Lisbon.
- Emirates has delayed the resumption of service to London/Gatwick into March 2021 after previously planning to resume service in December.
- Norwegian Air UK is extending its the delay to resume service to March 2021
- Qantas has extended its cancellation of all flights to the United States & Japan through February 2021.
- Saudia is resuming international operations today to 20 destinations.
- SKY Express has placed an order for four A320neo aircraft.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
I had a job interview today. It was going well, so I asked about the salary. The interview said the salary was $40,000 now and would increase to $60,000 later. I said “Sounds good, I’ll come back later.”