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IATA recommends against blocked middle seats, favors "layered" protections

By 9 Comments

How can airlines best ensure the safety of their passengers on board? Airline trade group IATA used its weekly briefing to highlight several factors that play into the reduction of potential virus transmission between passengers. And while airlines around the globe grapple with the financial challenges of blocking middle seats, IATA believes that to be a wholly unnecessary measure, so long as other practices are followed.

Is it a necessary measure considering what the damage is? And that it doesn’t bring an improvement in safety?

– IATA Director General/CEO Alexandre de Juniac

IATA’s Medical Advisor Dr. David Powell delivered the briefing this week, calling to attention a handful of scientific studies tied to contact tracing and the likelihood of transmissions on board. Further direct contact with airlines representing 14% of global traffic identified three instances of suspected transmission from passenger to crew, but none among passengers.

In addition to the HEPA filters on recirculated air and other, similar topics oft discussed, Powell identified three key factors that he believes further limit the spread on board. These include limited face-to-face interaction among passengers because everyone faces the same direction, seatbacks providing physical barriers and little mixing among travelers while seated.

How should airlines limit disease transmission between passengers? The organization believes these ideas should work better than blocking seats.
How should airlines limit disease transmission between passengers? The organization believes these ideas should work better than blocking seats.

Guidelines for reducing transmission on board

Building on these factors IATA generated a set of recommendations to include layers of safety, both literally and figuratively, that avoid the blocked middle seat requirement while promising appropriate levels of safety. These include:

  • Screening passengers via temperature or other quick, contactless methods
  • Contactless check-in and baggage processes
  • Physical distancing in the airport (but NOT on planes!)
  • Enhanced cleaning procedures for aircraft
  • Masks or other facial coverings
  • Limited passenger interaction and movement on board

IATA hopes that limiting face-to-face interaction as much as possible will be sufficient to limit transmission between passengers. Combined with some screening at airports, the goal is that aircraft will no longer be global couriers of disease, but that they will return to their role delivering economic growth around the world.

Read More: Inflight social distancing will kill short-haul LCC travel: IATA

Powell explains, “Adding the in-flight measures, including limiting motion in the cabin in flight and simplified catering procedures, would enable us to continue/resume operations” without needing to maintain blocked seats. Among the limited motion measures in cabin, Powell hinted at limited lav queuing, among other things.

Nobody has demonstrated that having the middle seat empty has reduced the chances of transmission of COVID-19 from one passenger to another. And the seat pitch is within the respiratory zone anyways.

– Dr. David Powell, IATA Medical Advisor

Many of these measures are relatively easy on short-haul flights. Stretch the trip across several hours or overnight, however, and things like inflight meals become more of a challenge. If everyone is required to wear a mask how can anyone eat or drink? Powell cited examples from crew behavior on flights today as one potential solution, “There are flights currently where cabin crew are wearing masks and what happens if they are eating a meal next to each other. They have to alternate. There will probably need to be some sort of similar control over that in the passenger cabin as well. Ideally you would not have two adjacent passengers uncovered at the same time for obvious reasons.”

Financial or medical motivation??

The briefing also included significant content from IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce showing that virtually no airline would be able to turn a profit with seats blocked on board.

With blocked seats on board no airline would be able to realize profits at current fares based on IATA analysis
With blocked seats on board no airline would be able to realize profits at current fares based on IATA analysis

IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac acknowledges the optics there, but insists that the decision is not financially motivated, “It is clear that [blocking] middle seat has an enormous financial and operational impact on airlines. Additionally, neutralizing the middle seat brings no additional guarantee to avoid transmission. The point is to see whether it is necessary to implement a measure that would significantly damage the economics of the industry and the possibility of passengers to travel in good condition without bringing an additional safety improvement.” And, given the medial guidance by Dr. Powell, IATA is firmly in the camp that blocking the seats does nothing for passenger or crew safety.

That passengers today believe it delivers that benefit may provide a different economic driver for airlines to continue blocking seats. But that would be a financial decision, one counter to IATA’s medical recommendation.

Full twitter thread covering the briefing is here.

More on COVID-19 and the airlines affected

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About Seth Miller

Seth Miller has over a decade of experience covering the airline industry. With a strong focus on passenger experience, Seth also has deep knowledge of inflight connectivity and loyalty programs. He is widely respected as an unbiased commentator on the aviation industry.

He is frequently consulted on innovations in passenger experience by airlines and technology providers.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joseph N. says

    It is amazing how ignorant these “experts” can be. Their big idea is “little mixing when sitting?” How do the expect to do that, sneeze guards around the middle seat? You hit the nail on the head with the subheading “financial or medical motivation?”

    It’s a free market. If these “experts” think they can still find people who will pay to sit in between two strangers in one of those teeny-tiny airline seats, good luck with that. Middle seats will still have a use for families flying to Orlando, but not for solo passengers.

    I disagree with the “experts” about the cost. The annual “Megados” offer coach, blocked middle seat, and biz/first options, and the blocked middle seat sells out first. For a while there is going to be a portion of the flying public who will not fly on your airline if you don’t block the middle seat.

    Reply

    • Seth Miller says

      Masks is how they plan to do it.

      Also, planning any rational sales effort based on MegaDo demand is not going to end well. That’s a very different crowd than the typical traveler. Premium economy demand is growing, but not enough to displace the cheaper seats yet.

      Middle seats are not going away on planes. The economics simply do not work.

      Reply

    • Seth Miller says

      I’ve seen it. Presumably IATA believes that masks will help address most of those issues.

      But, yeah, there are concerns there.

      Reply

  3. Osvaldo Coelho says

    Passengers will be offered a glass of a prophylaxis before take off. Moslems should not worry. There will be a non-alcoholic prophylaxis for them.
    They will spray the plane, you know with some perfumed liquid. Telling that is a Covid Killer.
    In case you need to buy the prophylaxis, you just drunk, it is on sale on board. Get you credit cards ready

    Reply

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