Report outlines passengers’ Covid-19 concerns
A recent report commissioned by Gensler, a global design firm, and View, a smart glass company, titled Readying for take-off: Restoring passenger confidence through airport health, shows that for the majority (71%) of passengers, personal health is a greater priority than it was four months ago.
The survey consisted of 970 people across the USA and was conducted online via an anonymous survey on May 14, 2020, with the company noting the participants were a representative sample of the traveling public.
The report found that people’s concerns depended on how frequently they travel. The most frequent travelers (more than five flights per month for business or personal reasons) rated the activities at the airport as their highest area of concern (49%), much more than the flight itself (25%). On the other hand, infrequent travelers (less than one flight per month) were completely different, with the flight by far and away their top concern (75%).
It was also noted that the frequent traveler’s main worry, the airport environment, outweighed both the ground commute and the flight. The level of risk they perceived focused on three key areas: baggage check, security and the gate area.
To counter these concerns, the report suggested a greater use of cues to show travelers that steps are being taken to reduce risks, and highlighted social distancing, touchless technology and environmental monitoring as key to this. Passengers’ main concerns, regardless of frequency of travel, centered around the processes leading up to their leaving security, after which, they want to be able to relax, dine and shop as they usually would.
