CAPE TOWN- While the prospect of air travel seems like an elusive dream due to the coronavirus pandemic, an Italian aircraft design company has come up with two cabin designs that ensures passengers are separated and isolated from each other.
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which could prevent the spread of Covid-19 on planes.
The first of the two designs is called the “
Janus” which is a three-seater row where built-in transparent shields separate all the seats. Passengers seated on the sides face the flight direction while the middle seat faces backwards. Janus is known as the two-faced god of Ancient Rome.
The second cabin design by the Italian company is called the ‘
Glassafe’ which is a bubble of transparent material that wraps the passenger's head and shoulders. The objective of this design is to create an isolated volume around each passenger in order to minimize contact and interaction and to reduce the probability of contamination by viruses.
Italian shops, restaurants and churches opened up again on Monday for the first time in ten weeks as lockdown restrictions in the country have begun to ease. The restrictions were enforced on 9 March to combat Covid-19.
The death toll in Italy is over 32,000, however with the spread of the virus slowing, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said it was time to reopen the country to avoid further economic damage.
Apart from repatriation flights to bring citizens home, there have been no commercial flights in South Africa since 26 March after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the national lockdown.
South African Airways, the country's state-owned flag carrier airline has been in business rescue since December and in desperate need of funding assurances. The onset of the pandemic has put pressure on the entire industry, including SAA's biggest commercial rival Kulula.com.
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