Airports Adapt Strategies to Regain Confidence in Air Travel Amid COVID-19

Many travelers worry about contracting COVID-19 at airports, which has caused a decrease in flights. The strict travel restrictions placed by many countries around the world due to the pandemic have also affected airports business. USA Today reports that airports around the world have been working hard to adapt new strategies to keep passengers safe and regain the confidence to air travel.

The six strategies airports have been implementing are:

1. Security checkpoint by appointments
Denver International Airport debuted VeriFLY, a free app-powered program “for health conscious or high-risk passengers.” Passengers complete a health survey 24 hours in advance of their flight and have a temperature check before reaching the Transportation Security Administration lane.

2. Robot and robot-like employees
San Francisco International Airport has airport employees who remind passengers to wear masks. Pittsburgh International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and San Antonio International Airport have sterilizing robots and robotic machinery to disinfect public areas and facilities.

3. Advance cleaning options
Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities have installed bipolar ionization (BPI) devices in airport heating and air conditioning systems. London’s Gatwick Airport has a Smiths Detection-made system at eight security checkpoint lanes, which sends short-wavelength UV-C light for disinfection through the security bins. Toronto Pearson International Airport has UV-C sterilization units at escalators and walkways to clean handrails continuously. There is also a disinfection corridor which passengers can pass through before or after their flight for a sanitizing spritz.

4. COVID-19 testing
United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines will have their own COVID-19 testing pilot programs on or close to October 15. United Airlines is testing on passengers flying from San Francisco to Hawaii, and Hawaiian Airlines will have drive-through sites in Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport. John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport have COVID-19 testing sites done in some terminals. Vancouver International Airport and Canadian Airline WestJet have a pilot program that offers preflight COVID-19 testing for passengers boarding domestic flights. Italian Airline Alitalia will operate two of its seven daily Rome to Milan flights through mid-October as “COVID-Tested,” which means only passengers who test negative are allowed on the plane.

5. Dogs that sniff COVID-19
Finland’s Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and Dubai International Airport have pilot programs to test dog’s efficacy at detecting COVID-19. Passengers swipe their skin with a wipe and put it in a jar, which is given to a dog in a separate booth who sniffs it, then scratches its paw, barks, or lies down to indicate the test result. If the dog’s result is positive, the passenger is urged to take a COVID-19 test.

6. Airport Accreditation
The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and the Global Biorisk Advisory Council® (GBAC), a Division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, have established a formal partnership to accredit airports that meet the highest levels of cleanliness and safety at their facilities to minimize risk from coronavirus and other infectious agents. AAAE will act as a strategic partner with GBAC for two programs that will help airports and airport personnel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: 1. the GBAC STAR™ Facility Accreditation Program, which helps public and commercial facilities establish and maintain a cleaning, disinfection, and infectious disease prevention program to minimize risks associated with infectious agents and biohazards, and 2. the GBAC Fundamentals Online Course: Cleaning & Disinfection Principles, an e-learning course that trains cleaning professionals on infection and contamination control measures for infectious disease prevention. Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport is the first airport in the world to earn GBAC STAR™ facility accreditation.