Although the coronavirus is still proliferating around the globe, airlines have begun to look at what it will take to get fliers back on planes en masse in a post-pandemic world.
Blocking middle seats in the name of social distancing and deep sanitizing of plane cabins will likely be sticking around for the foreseeable future, but another possible preventative step has surfaced in the industry: immunity passports for COVID-19. Delta Air Lines’ CEO became the latest person to embrace the potential document on Wednesday.
Speaking on the airline’s first quarter earnings call, Delta CEO Ed Bastian noted that the carrier was open to the idea if it helped passengers feel more comfortable on board aircraft again.
Although the coronavirus is still proliferating around the globe, airlines have begun to look at what it will take to get fliers back on planes en masse in a post-pandemic world.
Blocking middle seats in the name of social distancing and deep sanitizing of plane cabins will likely be sticking around for the foreseeable future, but another possible preventative step has surfaced in the industry: immunity passports for COVID-19. Delta Air Lines’ CEO became the latest person to embrace the potential document on Wednesday.
Speaking on the airline’s first quarter earnings call, Delta CEO Ed Bastian noted that the carrier was open to the idea if it helped passengers feel more comfortable on board aircraft again.
«We will make whatever changes to the business model that will be necessary,» Bastian said on the call. «If it turns out immunity passports will be a new form… You think about everything that came out of 9/11 with TSA and homeland security and new public agencies. Could there be a new public health agency coming out that requires a new passport to travel? We’ll be on the forefront of all those advances.»
An immunity passport is essentially a document issued to anyone who has recovered from COVID-19, and therefore whose immune systems would theoretically have the antibodies necessary to fight off the virus and prevent a second infection. States like New York have begun testing citizens for antibodies. Some government officials are playing with the idea of lifting stay-at-home orders for individuals with the proper antibodies…
