From the SARS outbreak in 2003 to the Zika epidemic last year, airplanes have often served as ideal vehicles for propagating disease. The forced proximity. The long journey time. The mix of people from different locations. These factors all help illnesses to jump from one person to another, and from one continent to another.
This gives airlines a special responsibility as outbreaks occur. The decisions they make about who to board, and whether to fly at all, can have widespread consequences. And, according to new research, most carriers could do a better job than they do now. By changing how they board passengers, and perhaps by using different types of planes, they could stop people being infected so readily, the study shows.
