Over the past several years, movies about a powerful virus depicted airlines and air travelers as the ideal carriers. Today, as the world grapples with a real-life pandemic, concerns over whether fiction is fact have arisen, which begs the question: is it safe to fly?
In reality, airlines like Cebu Pacific are part of a much broader aviation industry where there are many other layers of safety in place. Furthermore, the entire aviation industry is not letting their guard down–beefing-up the already stringent safety measures to alleviate concerns of passengers regarding air travel.
Some people think that the airplane cabin is just like any other enclosed airconditioned space like a restaurant or office. However, even if passengers are seated next to each other, the chance of transmission of contaminants like coronavirus from breathing in cabin air is reduced. This is because the air flows or circulates inside the cabin vertically, with “used air” pushed out of the cabin, and fresh air comes in from outside, passing through a filtration process all the time.
Cebu Pacific jets are equipped with hospital-grade High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. These effectively circulate clean air every three minutes, and eliminate microscopic particles such as bacteria, viruses and fungi with 99.99 percent efficiency.
Cebu Pacific has also adapted a layered approach to biosafety measures to help curb the spread of the virus onboard.
From the moment a passenger enters the airport, checks-in, goes to the pre-departure area,andboards the aircraft, the airline constantly reminds its passengers to follow floor markers placed as a guide for them to observe social distancing, while always having their face masks on.
Unlike any other indoor space or modes of transportation, research conducted by the International Air Transport Association shows that the condition in the air cabin makes transmission of virus difficult, as airflow exchange rates and directions are less conducive to droplet spread.
