Even a veteran flyer like industry analyst Scott Hamilton has said he ’ s not ready to get on a flight any time soon . He wrote in his Leeham News blog around Labor Day that with major U . S . jurisdictions like Chicago and New York City setting 14-day quarantines for out-of-state visitors , business travel is not feasible , and personal travel options are limited .
IATA now says it could be 2024 before worldwide travel numbers get back to something near pre-COVID levels .
To get more paying flyers back in the air sooner , the industry is looking for ways to make passengers feel more assured that they won ’ t get infected while in the air . It ’ s leading to some innovative solutions and what some industry insiders say is the setting of long-overdue standards for in-flight cleanliness .
Some companies aim to have significant announcements — of sales or new partnerships — this fall . Others are taking a more long-term approach , noting that COVID-19 isn ’ t the first pandemic to impact the industry — and probably won ’ t be the last .
Whichever the case , aerospace suppliers say they are banding together with the companies they normally compete with , to create broad-based , multi-disciplinary responses to the crisis , giving passengers confidence they can fly safely .
The cooperation has been “ really awesome ,” said Tapis Corp . Sales Director Mathew Nicholls . And it comes from the realization that there ’ s no silver bullet solution .
“ Buying our material doesn ’ t magically make your aircraft clean ,” he said . “ It ’ s the sum of all the parts — the HEPA filters , the airflow exchange . And now we ’ ve added this , this and this .”
At Nycote ® Laboratories Corporation , Andrew Larsen agreed .
“ Ultimately , we want people to be back on airplanes ,” said Larsen , the company ’ s officer for business development , technical sales and communications . “ We want to give the consumer , the flyer , a sense of security . Anything we can do to increase the safety of the people on the aircraft is on the table .”
Here are six aerospace companies and the approaches they ’ re taking to fighting this pandemic — and the next one .
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