This is why Britain will suffer like Spain or Italy. There are always people who explain that using a mask or following lockdown regulations are of no use and too expensive. Just like winter tyres or de-icing equipment at your airports. If it decreases the risk of getting sick (or in fact spreading it if you are already sick but you still don't know) by only 5% then don't want to be smarter than the world but friggin get on with it.

Because wearing a mask is a distraction from what's really important in reducing the spread. Wash your hands again and again. And properly. And don't touch your face. And keep your distance. That's what's important. Some people are stupid enough to think that if they're wearing a mask then they're immune.

Wearing a mask does stop you directly touching your face. There is no one thing that works for everybody.

Doesn't stop you rubbing your eyes, an easy point of entry for diseases.

Very gentle request - could we perhaps keep this thread for discussion about the impact of CV on air travel, and move the debate about the effectiveness of masks to a separate thread dedicated to that topic ?

I have just had a quick look at Flight Radar 24 and it is staggering how much air traffic is still going on... are all these flights necessary ???

FR24 seems to show that yesterday (Monday 23 March), the number of flights they tracked globally was down about 45% compared to Monday 9 March.
Of the flights operating in Europe in the last 5 mins, a non-trivial proportion seem to be dedicated to either cargo or general aviation. There are other flights (e.g. London-Tenerife) for which fares in the next few days are very cheap if you want to head south, but more expensive if you want to head north - most likely repatriating the last stragglers from the beach. The number of traditional commercial pax flights in Europe however seems to be well below what one might have seen a month ago. I grant that it is perhaps surprising how many pax flights are being operated in Europe by Wizzair right now

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52027342

Oh dear. Not good. Britain has to be different from most European countries again.....

Look at it now, it’s remarkably empty out there. Looks like it would approaching midnight on New Years Eve. Only 25 Ryanair in the air and even some of those are heading for storage, that will be 0 or close to tomorrow.

I've been in the industry 22 years come 30th march I've no doubt this is the end of my career. Aviation as we knew it is gone forever, when things eventually start to sprout again in 3/4 years environmentalists will kick up such a stink global warming had slowed when the flights stopped etc

cessna - you sure you're not being just a bit too pessimistic ? China caught Covid-19 beginning in January this year. Flights there are now beginning to return after about 10 weeks
https://www.anna.aero/2020/03/23/sho...wn-just-8-yoy/

China is different, reason being their economy took a hit yes but not as large as the uk is going to take. Summer season is gone people will be asked to pay 12 weeks in advance for their trip to benidorm, who in their right mind even if they did have the money would pay giving the current suitation. Its going to take years to recover to the level we where at if ever at all

China acted quickly and drastically and have managed to significantly calm the situation but there is still a risk of a surge once restrictions are limited. The virus was also concentrated mostly within one area rather than across the whole country. Many European countries have dealt with this in a different way, arguably, less effectively, although that isn’t yet known.

Those are domestic flights. In the UK, and even mainland Europe, domestic flights are the minority.
in order for European flights to return to their original levels all the European countries would need to reopen their borders and also to be confident that inbound passengers weren’t bringing in further infection.
Without universal testing for anti-bodies and a reliable vaccine it
is hard to see how that can happen.

Interesting that Aer Lingus will be flying 5 return flights day from Dublin to China for a period of 12 days, 60 flights in total as they put through a massive order for medical equipment and going to pick it up. Govt claim was that it was up to 13 yrs of normal usage which clearly will be a lot less during abnormal usage at the moment.

Flight out of LGW on way to Lima for repatriation of people stuck there just left.

The lockdown is expected to last around 13 weeks to mid June. I would expect severe travel restrictions after that in case the country got reinfected. Hard to imagine many airlines getting through 2020 particularly as new bookings for flights and holidays will not have corona insurance cover.

From this afternoon's govt update

EasyJet have now grounded their ENTIRE fleet....

https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...-entire-fleet/