Republic of the Philippines

PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS

THE QUALITY OF AIR INSIDE A CABIN OF AN AIRCRAFT DURING

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A CASE STUDY

Mike Gabriel I. Oclos

Kurt Erbern C. Tapawan

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

HONESTY CLAUSE

As a student of Philippine State College of Aeronautics, I hereby pledge

to act ethically and uphold the values of academic integrity, honor and

excellence. I certify on my honor that I have neither given nor received

assistance from anyone in completing this assessment. I understand that

suspected misconduct on given assignments, activities and examinations

will be reported to the appropriate office and if established will result in

disciplinary action in accordance with the rules, policies and procedures by

the College.

Mike Gabriel I. Oclos

Kurt Erbern C. Tapawan

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This case study will dive in and present an analysis on the air quality

inside an aircraft cabin during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is defined as illness caused by a

novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

(SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), which was first identified amid

an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province,

China (Cennimo, D. 2021). On December 31, 2019, it was first reported to

the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO labeled the COVID-19

outbreak a worldwide health emergency on January 30, 2020. The WHO

named COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, the first such

classification since declaring H1N1 influenza a pandemic in 2009.

The financial impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry has been

enormous. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced

that passenger demand fell by 94.3 percent in April 2020 compared to April

2019 (Rooley, J. 2020). IATA initially indicated that COVID-19 might reduce

airline passenger revenues by $314 billion in 2020, a 55% decrease from

2019. However, subsequent analysis shows that this could increase to $419

billion.

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

FINDINGS

Because of improved global connectedness and ongoing globalization,

travel times are significantly shorter than infectious illness incubation

periods (Budd et al., 2009). Increased connectivity and shorter travel times

are great for travelers, but bad news from an epidemiological standpoint.

According to Gould (1999), no two airports with scheduled international

passenger services in the world are more than 36 hours flying time apart,

leading him to conclude that airports are more than just nodes in a global

space of air traffic flows, but also important transit points for the rapid,

worldwide spread of disease. The importance of this calculation is reflected

in research that shows that, in an era of unprecedented global aeromobility

in which hundreds, if not thousands, of human pathogens circulate the

world's airways (Leibhold et al., 2006; Pavia, 2007), the global airline

network plays an important role in the global spread of infectious diseases.

IATA said on an article on their website titled, “Cabin Air & Low Risk of

On Board Transmission,” because passengers face the same direction,

seatbacks operate as barriers, air flow is from top to bottom, and the air is

also highly clean, the danger of transmission in the modern cabin

environment is low. IATA also included in this article several reasons to

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology
back up their claim that transmission inside the cabin is relatively low in

chance of happening:

1. Cabin air is refreshed 20-30 times an hour which is about 10 more

times than most office buildings.

2. The air aboard an aircraft is half HEPA-filtered and half fresh air.

3. The bacteria/virus removal efficiency rate of HEPA filters on board

is 99.993%.

4. The direction of air flow in an airplane is from top to bottom, rather

than along its length.

High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are standard on most

modern jet aircraft. These filters operate similarly to those used in hospital

operating rooms and industrial clean rooms. These HEPA filters remove

viruses, germs, and fungi 99.9% of the timeHigh-Efficiency Particulate Air

(HEPA) filters are standard on most modern jet aircraft. These filters

operate similarly to those used in hospital operating rooms and industrial

clean rooms. These HEPA filters remove viruses, germs, and fungi 99.9%

of the time.

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

DISCUSSION

Covid-19 transmission happens when virus in droplets suspended in the

air enter someone’s mouth or nose directly or through their contaminated

hands. In some cases, transmission by surface contact can also happen.

The air quality on an airplane is significantly superior to that found in

most indoor environments. This, together with other cabin features such as

the requirement to wear masks on board and the criteria for testing and/or

immunization certifications, minimizes the likelihood of getting COVID-19.

The danger of transmission is low in the modern cabin environment for

several reasons, including: all passengers face the same direction,

seatbacks operate as barriers, air movement is from top to bottom, and the

air is very clean. Air enters the cabin through above-deck inlets and flows

downhill to floor outlets. Air enters and exits the cabin through seats in the

same or adjacent rows. Respiratory particles are less likely to pass across

rows because there is less airflow forward and backward between them.

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

Figure 1: An illustration of the circulation of air inside the cabin of an

aircraft

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has also published a

paper on COVID-19 transmission and risk reduction while flying. They

discovered that combining many layers of precautions, such as the use of

face masks and more frequent cleaning, with aircraft airflow systems results

in a very low probability of COVID-19 transmission on aircraft.

Airbus employed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research to

construct a highly accurate simulation of the air in an A320 cabin in order to

see how cough droplets move inside the cabin airflow. The simulation

calculated characteristics such as air speed, direction, and temperature at

up to 1,000 times per second at 50 million places in the cabin. The same

tools were used to simulate a non-aircraft situation, with multiple people

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology
maintaining a six-foot (1.8-meter) gap between them. Results showed,

possible exposure was smaller when sitting next to each other on an aircraft

than when staying six feet apart in a setting such as an office, classroom,

or grocery store, which furthermore makes IATA’s statements about seat

positioning concrete.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

CONCLUSION
Multiple study shows that modern aircrafts are equipped with enough

technology to keep passengers safe even during aa pandemic. The HEPA

filters, the seat positioning, the way that air flows inside the cabin of an

aircraft, along with passenger, airlines, and airport precautions, the chance

of getting infected by COVID-19 is relatively low.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

RECCOMENDATIONS

The passengers are advised to be informed before even planning on

going on a trip or traveling. Several things should be considered even before

the flight, are COVID-19 variants spreading where you’re headed or in your

community? Are the people who’re traveling with you at high risk for COVID-

19? Do you live with someone who’s at high risk? While in flight passengers

should not eat or drink while on board. However, if necessary, keep it brief.

"If a person temporarily removes his or her mask to eat or drink, other

passengers in the vicinity should keep their masks on," according to a

Harvard University report on COVID risk reduction on airlines. When a face

mask is removed on a plane, the risk of infection increases, especially when

eating and drinking. The longer a passenger eats, the greater the risk of

infecting someone. Face masks are strongly advised for use in airports and

on flights. It is far better to use two face masks to provide a good seal around

the nose and mouth. Experts emphasized that preventive measures should

not be limited to the air and at the gates. Taking into account the entire

process, including how travelers get to and from airports, as well as how

they avoid lineups at security, baggage claim, food courts, and concession

stands. Being aware of the legislation in both the departing and arriving

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology
nations, as well as whether PCR testing is required before to travel and

airport safety measures.

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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

IMPLEMENTATION

Airports should have better information centers on site, and even online

that passengers can visit to learn more about covid-19 and other related

topics that may affect their flight and trip during the pandemic, including the

process that they will have to go through when they are inside the airport.

Airports and aircrafts should also implement a strict face mask rule, face

masks should not be removed or moved down in any instance during the

flight except when eating or any other necessary reason.

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 Republic of the Philippines
PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology

REFERENCES

Cennimo, D. J. (2021, June 25). How did the coronavirus outbreak start?

Retrieved June 11, 2022 from

https://www.medscape.com/answers/2500114-197402/how-did-the-

coronavirus-outbreak-start?reg=1

Rooley, J. (2020, July, 9). How COVID-19 has affected the aviation

industry and its approach to risk. Retrieved June 11, 2022 from

https://www.wtwco.com/en-GB/Insights/2020/06/how-covid-19-has-

affected-the-aviation-industry

Budd, L., Bell, M., Brown, T. (2009 September). Of plagues, planes and

politics: Controlling the global spread of infectious diseases by air.

Retrieved June 11, 2022 from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096262980900

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IATA (n.d.). Cabin Air & Low Risk of On Board Transmission. Retrieved

June 11, 2022 from

https://www.iata.org/en/youandiata/travelers/health/low-risk-

transmission/

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (n.d.) Assessment of Risks of

SARS-CoV-2 Transmission during Air Travel and Non-

Pharmaceutical
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PHILIPPINE STATE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS
Institute of Engineering and Technology
Interventions to Reduce Risk. Retrieved June 11, 2022, from

https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-

content/uploads/sites/2443/2020/10/Phase-One-Report-

Highlights-1.pdf

Fargeon, B. (2020 October). Preview of Airbus’ latest cabin air studies.

Retrieved June 11, 2022, from

https://www.iata.org/contentassets/a1a361594bb440b1b7ebb632

355373d1/airbus-trust-airtravel.pdf

Pombal, R., Hosegood, I., Powell, D. (2020 October 1). Risk of COVID-19

During Air Travel. Retrieved June 8, 2022, from

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771435

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