Southwest Airlines announced on Thursday that it would begin full bookings of popular routes by unlocking middle seats that have been vacant for months to make passengers feel safe during the epidemic.
The Dallas-based carrier cited several studies that the airline said said the risk of getting coronavirus on a plane when everyone wears a mask is very rare. In one case, the International Air Transport Association has found 44 cases of Covid-19 transmissions involving air travel, most of which were reported before the airlines improved cleaning procedures and mask requirements, a news release said.
“Of the 1.2 billion passengers who traveled in 2020, that’s 44, or one case for every 27 million tourists this year. As the IATA suggests, this is the same risk class struck by lightning, “Southwest said in a statement.
A cited study from the Southwest that showed Covid-19 being caught during a flight is almost as risky as lightning.
Another study from Airbus, Boeing and Embraer found that an aircraft’s airflow systems, filters and seatback barriers make it safer to wear a mask rather than being in another type of indoor environment.
Helen Baker, managing director and senior research analyst at Cowan, told NBC News: “We expect demand to remain strong around the holidays. So it makes sense to make more seats available to customers in December.”
Baker also cited the IATA study because of the low proof transmission rate in air travel.
The decision to open the middle seats came as the Southwest reported its biggest quarterly loss ever on Thursday. The airline reported a loss of 1. 1.2 billion in the three months ended September 30. During the same period last year, Southwest had a profit of 65 659 million.
The airline said in a statement on Thursday that “this practice of effectively keeping the middle seats open has bridged us since the early days of the epidemic, when we now have little knowledge of the behavior of the virus.” We will resume sales of all seats available for travel starting in 2020. “
Delta and Alaska are the only two U.S. airlines now committed to blocking middle seats by January. With the Southwest now ready to run full-fledged flights during the post-travel holiday period, some customers have expressed concern about whether this is the right choice.
“It simply came to our notice then. Even though the middle seat was empty I was very nervous to consider returning to SW air travel. Do you need 100% mask compliance? ” One person wrote on Twitter. “If a guy isn’t wearing his mask I’ll get off a certain plane.”
Another questioned why the middle seats were blocked when the case began to grow.
“It’s very sad to know that all the scientific, solid predictions are that the cases are spreading upwards and will continue even during the winter.” They wrote. “With this policy, I do not risk flying even for a family crisis. Hope you get this back. “
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Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said Thursday that the airline has been seeing a “slight improvement in the leisure passenger trend” since the downturn in July, but that the reported recovery will not happen soon.
“However, as long as we do not have a widely available vaccine and the crowds are immune, we expect passenger traffic and booking trends to remain fragile.”
Thanks, for the nervous flyers who don’t like the new policy, there’s a bit of reassurance. Southwest has a flexible conversion policy, so passengers who book themselves in flights that are more complete than comfortable will have the option to find an alternative flight without paying a conversion fee.
