Qantas cheap flights with no social distancing

[b1lanc]

Certainly some interesting statements. $12.50US between Melbourne to Sydney. Some snippets below."But the airline – which previously planned to remove middle seats to maintain space – insists it is not needed because the pressurized cabin along with medical-grade filters keeps travelers safe.

Joyce said that because passengers face the same direction with “a barrier of a seat in front of them” there is “a very low risk of transmission.”

He also claimed that “we don’t know of a single person-to-person transmission on an aircraft” connected to the pandemic that has infected more than 4.9 million people worldwide.

“With the cabin, with the measures we’re introducing – the masks, the sanitizers for people to wipe down, the extra cleaning we’re doing ourselves, hand sanitizers all the way through the terminals – we’re very comfortable you don’t need social distancing on an aircraft,” he told the show.

If Qantas had to fulfill even 5 feet between passengers, it would leave just 22 people onboard an Airbus SE A320 made for 180, the chief executive said."

https://nypost.com/2020/05/20/qantas...al-distancing/

[Check Airman]

Does the public want cheap fares, or a socially distanced flight? Can’t have both. Blocking the middle seat isn’t nearly equivalent to 2m separation.

[Longtimer]

Originally Posted by Check Airman

Does the public want cheap fares, or a socially distanced flight? Can’t have both. Blocking the middle seat isn’t nearly equivalent to 2m separation.

Public just wants CHEAP along with the option of suing when things don't work out.

[GeeRam]

If this is for internal flights only, then its not much of an issue given the way Australia have reduced the community transmission rate...?

Or is this their proposal for long haul international flights as well? I'd be surprised given Aus still operating 14-day quarantine for returning nationals and no entry to non-nationals?

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by b1lanc

[Joyce] also claimed that “we don’t know of a single person-to-person transmission on an aircraft” connected to the pandemic that has infected more than 4.9 million people worldwide.

Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

[b1lanc]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

Precisely. One has to wonder who the "we" is.

[calypso]

Easy, if you are worried don't fly since it is not compulsory

[Momoe]

insists it is not needed because the pressurized cabin along with medical-grade filters keeps travelers safe.

If you can't see the BS in that fake news statement, you'll be in row 1. Do have sympathy for the flight crews though.

[601]

I think that Mr Joyce has been watching too much TV and getting ideas from the NRL.

[Anti Skid On]

Originally Posted by b1lanc

Certainly some interesting statements. $12.50US between Melbourne to Sydney. Some snippets below."But the airline – which previously planned to remove middle seats to maintain space – insists it is not needed because the pressurized cabin along with medical-grade filters keeps travelers safe.

Joyce said that because passengers face the same direction with “a barrier of a seat in front of them” there is “a very low risk of transmission.”

He also claimed that “we don’t know of a single person-to-person transmission on an aircraft” connected to the pandemic that has infected more than 4.9 million people worldwide.

“With the cabin, with the measures we’re introducing – the masks, the sanitizers for people to wipe down, the extra cleaning we’re doing ourselves, hand sanitizers all the way through the terminals – we’re very comfortable you don’t need social distancing on an aircraft,” he told the show.

If Qantas had to fulfill even 5 feet between passengers, it would leave just 22 people onboard an Airbus SE A320 made for 180, the chief executive said."

https://nypost.com/2020/05/20/qantas...al-distancing/

This seems a bit odd, since Qantas use B737's and A330's as their domestic fleet; their low cost arm, Jetstar, which to the best of my knowledge is managed separately, uses A320's and A321's.

[unobtanium]

Originally Posted by Anti Skid On

This seems a bit odd, since Qantas use B737's and A330's as their domestic fleet; their low cost arm, Jetstar, which to the best of my knowledge is managed separately, uses A320's and A321's.

Qantaslink uses ex-jetstar A320s. Soon qantaslink a320s will take over there retired 737s for all domestic flights and qantas will be back to international only with no more legacy engineer's and pilot's.

[nonsense]

Originally Posted by GeeRam

If this is for internal flights only, then its not much of an issue given the way Australia have reduced the community transmission rate...?

Indeed.
There are two reasons to be concerned about transmission of Covid.

1. Obviously (most?) people are very keen not to become infected. With around one new infection per million of population daily, this is not currently a practical threat, though it is perceived to be a threat by many people who do not quite grasp that their entire lifetime is unlikely to exceed 35,000 days, making one in a million per day a very small risk.
2. Equally obviously, as a community we're keen to keep the total number of new infections low and the transmission rate below 1.0. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of aircraft derived hot spots in the way that, for example, nursing homes and meat packing plants have become problems in many places.

So the individual risk at the moment is extremely low, and the risk of increased transmission within the community as a consequence of air travel within the community appears to be low.

Of course there is also the issue of individual states and territories limiting entry from other states.