18 May 2020: As travel restrictions are slowly lifted across the globe, Boeing has put in place the Confident Travel Initiative for enhanced safety measures to minimize air travel health risks. Mike Delaney, with over three decades of experience as the VP of Digital Transformations at Boeing Commercial Airplanes will lead this initiative.
Congratulating Mike on the new initiative, Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun said, "As air travel slowly begins to resume and restrictions ease around the globe, health and safety remain our top priorities for our teams who design, build and service the airplanes and all those who fly on them. Mike's deep technical expertise, leadership skills, industry knowledge and great passion for our customers make him uniquely qualified to lead this effort."
As a part of this initiative, Boeing will work with airlines, global regulators, industry stakeholders, passengers, infectious disease experts and behavioral specialists. They will jointly formulate a plan to develop new and improved healthcare solutions and establish industry-recognized safety recommendations.
Stressing improved air travel health measures as the need of the hour Delaney said, "Our commitment to ensuring the health of airline passengers and crews is unwavering. We're working with partners to enhance aircraft cleanliness procedures and identify other areas to further reduce the risk of airborne illness transmission. Air travel is coming back and as that happens, we want passengers and crews to board Boeing airplanes without hesitation. Our goal is to provide a safe experience from curbside to airplane and beyond. Common system-wide standards are a key to a safe experience."
Apart from creating health awareness, this team will also work with operators for testing other sanitizers compatible with airplane flight decks and cabins. The team will also focus on other measures like enhanced cleaning, temperature checks and face masks. For example every Boeing aircraft has the air filtration system incorporated with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. These filters are proven to remove 99.9 % bacteria, viruses and fungi and are used in hospitals and industry clean rooms.
Boeing is also working with various academics, health experts and learning institutions worldwide to field studies and facilitate research on reducing the potential of disease transmission on airplanes, use of technologies like ultraviolet light disinfecting systems and antimicrobial coatings for high-touch surfaces.