In addition to enhanced sanitation practices on board, airplane carriers have been touting the use of high-end air filtration systems to help avoid the spread of COVID-19 while flying. Although we trust the efficacy and necessity of the systems, we've been wondering: how do these actually work?
Earlier this week, United Airlines posted a video seeking to illustrate how these high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration systems operate and, we must say, the whole endeavor looks pretty cool.
You can take a look at the video above but here is the general break down: the plane's engines continually pull in outside air while the cabin air runs through the HEPA system, which removes 99.97% of particles like viruses and bacteria. The two types of air are then combined and get re-circulated inside the cabin. Fun fact: the cabin air flows from the ceiling to the floor, in an effort to minimize the particle spread in-between rows. Pretty interesting stuff in our humble opinion.
Of course, the high-end filtration system isn't the only safety precaution that airlines have been taking: masks are required aboard most if not all American planes and crews have been asked to carry out additional cleaning procedures both on the actual vessels and within terminals. Other companies yet are developing entirely new venues for traveling—like this awesome supersonic jet. We are ready for it all.
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