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Statement of Task
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) will appoint a planning committee to organize a workshop to review the issues related to COVID-19 related safety of passengers and employees in commercial air transportation, for domestic and international travel, during the pandemic.
A two-day workshop will consider best practices to assess, and operational and procedural best practices to mitigate COVID-19 transmission risks experienced during the travel chain from the departure airport entrance to the destination airport exit. The workshop will also identify areas where more research is needed to address any gaps in understanding that are revealed. The workshop will include the examination of best practices in the following areas:
- On the airplane: cabin airflow modeling, cleaning requirements, food distribution, seating on the airplane;
- At the airport: physical layout, queuing spacing while in lines for tickets, security, boarding/deplaning;
- For employees: luggage handling, checking-in passengers, contracted food establishments, cabin and flight crews;
- For passengers: encountering TSA, border control, luggage, and passenger check-in, other passengers, and;
- Next steps in U.S. research into understanding and preventing virus transmission while using commercial air transportation.
A proceedings summarizing the presentations and discussions at the workshop will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.
