Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- Boeing wants to remarket China’s airplanes. It’s costly and time consuming. April 28, 2025
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 19. April 25, 2025
- How good is the C929? Part 2. April 24, 2025
- Boeing First Quarter Results Update: China is 10% of the backlog, with 500 in “Unidentified” April 24, 2025
- Boeing First Quarter Results: Tariffs, Return flights, $10.55bn asset sale April 23, 2025
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 11. Wrapup.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 18, 2020, ©. Leeham News: It’s time to wrap our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We started the series on the 8th of May. A lot of knowledge has been gained since, about COVID-19 in general and when taking a scheduled flight.
Figure 1. The difference of coughing without and with a mask. Source: Simulations by Florida Atlantic University, composited and annotated by LNA.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 10. Trans-Atlantic trip.
By Vincent Valery
July 10th, 2020, © Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we look at a trip undertaken last week by a member of the LNA team, Vincent Valery. Vincent, who flew from New York to visit family in France close to Geneva, writes this post.
On the flight over the Atlantic in Economy. Source: All photos LNA.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 9. Stay hydrated.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 3, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine how cabin humidity affects the risks of getting COVID-19.
The extensive research around the seasonality of flu infections gives us tips for our behavior during flights, now and when the pandemic has left us.
Figure 1. The air conditioning system of an airliner. Source: Leeham Co.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 8. Boarding and deboarding.
June 26, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we look closer at the boarding and deboarding part.
We have identified it as possibly the most troublesome part of a flight during the COVID pandemic. We look at the findings from simulations by boarding/deboarding experts.
Figure 1. Deboarding of a single-aisle airliner. Source: The Conversation
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 7. Effects of prevention.
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 19, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we look at opening up traveling and how re-emerging infection clusters can be handled.
With a four-month pandemic history, several studies now detail what effects different prevention actions have. Once the general spreading of the virus is under control in a country, authorities can then use these tools to engage in point actions rather than general lockdowns.
Figure 1. The EU travel app. Source: European Union.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 5. Risk of spread.
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 5, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we dig deeper into how the virus spreads.
In the last Corner, I wrote, “Recent research points to SARS-CoV-2 spreading over droplets rather than aerosols.” I later modified it to “spreading more over droplets than aerosols.”
Let’s dig into what I tried to say and why I changed the sentence.
Figure 1. The spreading of droplets when coughing.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 4.
By Bjorn Fehrm
May 29, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we go deeper into the cabin airflow and procedures around the flight.
The riskiest phase of the flight is not when you sit down. The cabin airflow then transports the viruses away from your breathing. It’s the phases before and after the flight that are the danger zones.
Figure 1. The airflow in a passenger jet. Source: Leeham Co.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 3.
May 22, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we look closer at the available research around passengers that fly with virus infections and if these spread to other passengers during a flight.
How much do we know and what are guesses?
Figure 1.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 2.
May 15, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, we dig deeper into the knowledge around when a person is infectious and what to do about it in a air travel setting.
Figure 1. Droplet cloud when coughing.
Bjorn’s Corner: Can I get COVID-19 in airline cabins? Part 1.
May 8, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our Corner series, we now dig into this important subject: Is my probability of getting infected with the COVID-19 virus higher in an airliner cabin than in other places?
We look at simulations of how the virus travels when we breathe/cough and how the virus load propagates in an airliner cabin. Then we talk about infection probabilities compared with other environments.
Figure 1.