Omicron May Double The Risk Of Infection On Planes, Says IATA. Know Things To Consider

One can minismise the risk by avoiding common-touch surfaces, hand hygiene wherever possible, masks, distancing, controlled-boarding procedures, try to avoid face-to-face contact with other customers

A stewardess wearing full PPE kit | (File Photo/ Getty Images)

New Delhi: Those planning to undertake flight journey amid rise in Omicron cases across the globe need to be alert as aircraft passengers are twice or even three times more likely to catch the infection during a flight since the emergence of the new variant, according to a top medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

The new strain has emerged highly transmissible and went on to become dominant in a matter of weeks accounting for more than 70 per cent of all new cases in the US alone.

What are the chances of of infection during a flight?

Even as hospital-grade air filters on modern passenger jets reduce the risk of infection on planes than in crowded places such as shopping malls, but more people travelling in air for year-end holidays and family reunions can still pose risk.

Business class may be safer than more densely packed economy cabins, David Powell, physician and medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told Bloomberg. IATA represents almost 300 carriers worldwide.

"Whatever the risk was with delta, we would have to assume the risk would be two to three times greater with Omicron, just as we’ve seen in other environments. Whatever that low risk -- we don’t know what it is -- on the airplane, it must be increased by a similar amount,” he said.

Can you minimize the risks?

According to Powell, to a certain extent you can minismise the risk by avoiding common-touch surfaces, hand hygiene wherever possible, masks, distancing, controlled-boarding procedures, try to avoid face-to-face contact with other customers, try to avoid being unmasked in flight, for meal and drink services, apart from when really necessary.

Would it be safest not to fly at all?

The only protection to offer is to get vaccinated and boosted. The protection that you give yourself from an extra mask or a different type of mask, or not flying at all, frankly, is probably less than the benefit you would get from just being fully boosted, he added.

What about leaving middle seats on rows empty?

It’s incredibly appealing, intuitively. It does give a greater physical distance between you and the next person. But we haven’t seen that actually deliver a whole lot of benefit. But if there’s some cross airflow from the aisle to the window, or the window to the aisle, and you remove the person from the middle seat, you’ve helped the person who would have been in the middle seat. You probably haven’t helped the person in the next seat a whole lot, because it’s likely to drift across without the obstruction of that first person.

What are the risks of infection at the airport?

The requirements for airflows on board are much more stringent than they are for airport buildings generally. Roughly 50 per cent of the airflow is fresh from outside, 50 per cent is recirculated, but when it’s recirculated, it’s HEPA-filtered, so it’s clean. Most of those aren’t present in the airport phase. You’ve got much more random movement, much more potential for face-to-face contact, you’ve got generally reduced airflows. Airport ventilation rates are a 10th, maybe, of what they are on the airplane.