Opinion

Air passengers must be kept safe during pandemic

Both George Best Belfast City Airport and Aer Lingus have moved to address concerns raised over passenger safety but the alarming image of people packed onto a Belfast to Heathrow flight raises profound questions for the air travel industry during the pandemic.

Social distancing has become the mantra of governments and scientists during this crisis as they try to limit the spread of a highly contagious and deadly virus for which there is no cure and no vaccine.

It is a message we all understand and millions of people around the world have made enormous sacrifices and endured draconian restrictions in order to reduce the rate of infection and save lives.

Families have been kept apart, the police stop cars and question drivers, even a trip to the supermarket is subject to strict distancing and sanitation measures.

Which makes it all the more shocking to see a plane full of passengers sitting side by side and to hear worrying reports regarding the lack of social distancing at the airport.

The airport seems to have been taken by surprise by an influx of travellers on Monday morning after weeks of relatively low numbers.

The authorities should have been prepared for any increase as should the airline which must have known how many passengers were booked on the flight.

However, there is the bigger issue of making air travel as safe as possible and what appears to be a worrying lack of advice and guidance from the government.

The reality is that it is extremely difficult to maintain distancing on an aircraft but there may be other measures such as wearing masks and checks at airports which help to reduce the health risk.

It has to be recognised that it may be a very long time before we see a return to air travel as we know it.

Few of us expect to be jetting off to the sun for our summer holidays this year while the pandemic has already had a hugely detrimental impact on major airlines, with thousands of job losses announced.

But there is still a need for flights, particularly between Ireland and Britain and that connection must be maintained, while other routes may gradually increase.

As we move out of lockdown it is essential that air travel does not become a weak link in the efforts to suppress the spread of coronavirus.