Speaker 1: Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's stay sixty five
Speaker 1: since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Our main story
Speaker 1: airlines and airports are doing whatever they can to assure
Speaker 1: the public that it's safe to fly. But the future
Speaker 1: of air travel is going to look almost unrecognizably different.
Speaker 1: We followed someone who's still flying to find out what
Speaker 1: it's like on an airliner during a pandemic. First, here's
Speaker 1: what happened today. How Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing ahead
Speaker 1: with a vote on a three trillion dollar virus relief bill,
Speaker 1: despite the fact it has no chance of ever getting
Speaker 1: signed into law. Lawmakers began considering the package under restrictions
Speaker 1: that have now become commonplace, face covers and limits on
Speaker 1: the number of members on the floor at any one time.
Speaker 1: Pelosi is making a bet that key parts of the legislation,
Speaker 1: like aid to states, more payments to individuals, and extending
Speaker 1: unemployment insurance, will generate massive public support. She hopes that
Speaker 1: will force the White House and the GOP into negotiations
Speaker 1: on another round of stimulus for a hobbled US economy.
Speaker 1: But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has dismissed the legislation
Speaker 1: as a three trillion dollar left wing wish list, and
Speaker 1: said he and the White House have set no date
Speaker 1: for a new stimulus package. As the pandemic shuttered businesses
Speaker 1: and kept Americans at home, sales at stores and restaurants
Speaker 1: fell around six in a roll, nearly twice as much
Speaker 1: as it did in March. Both monthly declines broke all
Speaker 1: previous records. A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed
Speaker 1: industrial production had its steepest drop on record. It all
Speaker 1: adds to a mountain of data piling up that suggests
Speaker 1: it will take years for the economy to claw itself
Speaker 1: back from recession. One Nordic nation is seeing a light
Speaker 1: at the end of the tunnel for the outbreak. Denmark
Speaker 1: had its first day without a COVID nineteen related death
Speaker 1: since mid March. It's evidence that the country's strategy of
Speaker 1: locking down early has succeeded in bringing the virus under control.
Speaker 1: The total number of deaths from the virus the country
Speaker 1: has reported is five hundred and thirty seven. Finally, sad
Speaker 1: news for beer, UK pubs may be forced to dump
Speaker 1: seventy million pints enough to fill more than sixteen Olympic
Speaker 1: sized swimming pools, because much of the brewer's storing will
Speaker 1: spoil before the pubs can reopen in July. Many farmers
Speaker 1: and food manufacturers around the world, faced with a sudden
Speaker 1: plunge in demand, have been forced to figure out how
Speaker 1: to dump huge quantities of everything from milk, two pigs,
Speaker 1: and now our main story. The aviation industry is wrestling
Speaker 1: with ways to control the coronavirus and get people back
Speaker 1: to flying. Airports have seen a drop off in passengers
Speaker 1: since mid March, but as states ease lockdown restrictions, more
Speaker 1: people are expected to fly. Airports today are starting to
Speaker 1: make changes in the hopes that passengers will be safer
Speaker 1: as they fly. Bloomberg's just In Bachman has more on
Speaker 1: what it looks like to take a flight during a
Speaker 1: pandemic and how air travel may change going forward. Nick
Speaker 1: Shine is on his way to the airport. Nick is
Speaker 1: a sophomore at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and he's
Speaker 1: heading back to New York to see his parents. I
Speaker 1: decided to go home at this point in time, mostly
Speaker 1: because who knows what the future holds and I need
Speaker 1: to go see my parents at some point. It's early
Speaker 1: May and he hasn't seen them since January. Nick is
Speaker 1: catching a United Airlines flight from Denver International Airport to Newark.
Speaker 1: He says he's nervous about the trip. I'm thinking that
Speaker 1: lines won't be too bad, my seat will have some
Speaker 1: room next to me at least, but I'm definitely nervous
Speaker 1: about germs and corona. Full disclosure. Nick is the son
Speaker 1: of Rick Shine, a Bloomberg News editor who also works
Speaker 1: on this podcast. He just happened be taking this flight
Speaker 1: and we asked him to record his travels. Just like
Speaker 1: Nick isn't sure what his traveled today will actually look like.
Speaker 1: No one is certain how COVID nineteen will reshape safety
Speaker 1: protocols at airports and airlines, and some of the possible
Speaker 1: pandemic era measures have already begun in many places across
Speaker 1: the US airport temperature checks, plexiglass partitions, touchless check in kiosks,
Speaker 1: and far more social distancing near boarding gates, security lines,
Speaker 1: and on board. So far, none of the changes US
Speaker 1: airports are making are part of any coordinated government effort.
Speaker 1: Airlines are in talks with the Transportation Security Administration and
Speaker 1: other agencies on a more streamline approach. Until then, airlines
Speaker 1: and airports are doing whatever they can to assure the
Speaker 1: public that it's safe to fly. On May tenth, United
Speaker 1: Airlines began testing new touchless kiosks at four airports Boston, Chicago, Dallas,
Speaker 1: Fort Worth, and or Indo, allowing people to scan in
Speaker 1: from a smartphone or a sheet of paper printed at home.
Speaker 1: That's not an option for Nick today, though. Still things
Speaker 1: were looking good from a social distancing standpoint. The airport
Speaker 1: is busy, but people are standing six ft apart and
Speaker 1: they're wearing masks. These safety measures are part of the
Speaker 1: new reality for flyers, but some things don't change in airports,
Speaker 1: like waiting. I've already checked my bag by myself, but
Speaker 1: I'm waiting in line to put it on the coveyor belt,
Speaker 1: And even though it's not that crowded, it's taking a
Speaker 1: surprising amount of time. I mean, I've been staying in
Speaker 1: the same spot for about ten minutes now. There will
Speaker 1: be changes to really every part of the flying experience,
Speaker 1: including where Nick heads to next the security line. They're
Speaker 1: keeping the six protocol pretty strict. There's a like alleys
Speaker 1: between the lines that wrap around and make sure you're
Speaker 1: still six ft away in all directions. The line was
Speaker 1: really a breeze. I mean it's it's noon on a
Speaker 1: Friday and I'm already at the front. I didn't even
Speaker 1: wait really, so I can't complain in that front. But
Speaker 1: you know, still a lot of people, so that's a
Speaker 1: little nerve wracking. Nick gets through fast, but longer lines
Speaker 1: and congestion could come as more people head back to
Speaker 1: airports now and through security. And it was a breeze, nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing new, nothing different. Um, I'm waiting at the train,
Speaker 1: the little tram and Denver International going to be gate
Speaker 1: past security. Airports are also considering changes to their bars, restaurants,
Speaker 1: and public seating areas. Long rows of a joined seats
Speaker 1: near boarding gates may no longer be appropriate. Communal tables
Speaker 1: and food courts maybe a thing of the past. Now
Speaker 1: Nick is at his gate with ten minutes to spare,
Speaker 1: he notices another change, one that has to do with
Speaker 1: seating arrangements. They say now that, uh, each row number
Speaker 1: is your seat number. So I'm taking that to mean
Speaker 1: that every person has a road to themselves, which is nice. Um,
Speaker 1: and you board differently now, so you start with the
Speaker 1: last row and go down the line. So I have
Speaker 1: row thirty four, so I should be pretty pretty quick
Speaker 1: to board. Frontier Airlines is also creating a new policy
Speaker 1: before passengers can board. It says it will begin checking
Speaker 1: each flyer's temperature starting in June. If you're one point
Speaker 1: four degrees fahrenheit or warmer after two tests, you won't
Speaker 1: be allowed on the flight. But right now, Nick doesn't
Speaker 1: have to worry about that. He just needs to figure
Speaker 1: out what movie to pick as he lounges in his
Speaker 1: own rock, We're gonna watch a movie with our masks
Speaker 1: and gloves on, and uh, we're just gonna act like
Speaker 1: nothing's nothing's different, even though a lot of things are different.
Speaker 1: Nick has been wearing a mask this whole time, and
Speaker 1: that will also be the case once he gets onto
Speaker 1: the plane. Every US airline has mandated face coverings for
Speaker 1: boarding and in flight, but it's not a given people
Speaker 1: will wear them the entire time, especially when drinks are
Speaker 1: snacks are still served. It's a tricky rule to enforce,
Speaker 1: and flight attendants are being told they must do so.
Speaker 1: Nick boards the plane and makes his way to his seat.
Speaker 1: That's when he realizes something that new seating arrangement, the
Speaker 1: one where people may expect to have their own row.
Speaker 1: It turns out that's not the case. The plane is
Speaker 1: packed and having a road to yourself was just wishful thinking.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I thought that there was one
Speaker 1: person to a row. That was just incorrect. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a full flight for sure. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: in a row with all the seats filled up. Does
Speaker 1: not just does not stick feet apart. I mean that
Speaker 1: kind of figured. Just don't book the middle seats. It
Speaker 1: seems easy enough, but I guess it's, uh, it's not
Speaker 1: that easy. It just feels like a normal flight that
Speaker 1: I'm just more nervous and should have them. The few
Speaker 1: people flying now come expecting airlines to focus on strictly
Speaker 1: enforcing some kind of social distance on their planes. They do,
Speaker 1: but not if it means turning away a ticketed customer.
Speaker 1: From May and June, airlines cut their schedules so deeply
Speaker 1: due to weak demand that they often need all the
Speaker 1: seats on the flights that remain. So with fewer flights,
Speaker 1: there are now fuller planes. All of these changes in
Speaker 1: airports will be expensive, and they come at the worst
Speaker 1: possible time for nearly every player in the travel industry,
Speaker 1: from airlines to rental car companies and hotels. The sudden
Speaker 1: demand decline has hit all airlines deeply and led to
Speaker 1: some small carriers shutting down. In the US, the industry
Speaker 1: went from solid profits to a loss in the first
Speaker 1: quarter due to the virus. Financially, many airlines are in
Speaker 1: a race for survival despite some fifty billion dollars in
Speaker 1: US taxpayer support. That means measures like empty middle seats
Speaker 1: won't work for the industry in the longer term, at
Speaker 1: least without major fare increases or more money from the government.
Speaker 1: With less demand and an array of new health safety protocols,
Speaker 1: flying could become more expensive than in the recent past.
Speaker 1: So you may think that since there's so little demand,
Speaker 1: air fares will stay low, and they probably will for
Speaker 1: a time as the world very gradually returns to flying.
Speaker 1: But all of these new safety protocols could make air
Speaker 1: travel more expensive than in the reset past. Folks are
Speaker 1: welcome to a great rest of the day. After two
Speaker 1: and a half hours on that full flight, Nick lands
Speaker 1: in Newark. He says the airport isn't full. People are
Speaker 1: also wearing masks and there are lots of signs advising
Speaker 1: everyone to stay six ft apart. I don't feel great
Speaker 1: about that flight, but nothing I can do now. I'm
Speaker 1: happy to be here to a degree. He grabs his
Speaker 1: bag and heads home, and I'm gonna go say hello
Speaker 1: to my mom from six ft away. Time n equal
Speaker 1: self quarantine for ten days before he can get a
Speaker 1: real hug from mom. Just like temperature checks, touchless check
Speaker 1: in kiosks, and missing middle seats, getting off a plane
Speaker 1: and going into quarantine is just another change, as we
Speaker 1: learned to fly again during a pandemic. That was Bloomberg's
Speaker 1: just and Bachman and that's our show today. For coverage
Speaker 1: of the outbreak from one and twenty bureaus around the world,
Speaker 1: visit bloomberg dot com slash Coronavirus and if you like
Speaker 1: the show, please leave us a review and a rating
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to
Speaker 1: help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily
Speaker 1: edition is hosted by me Laura Carlson. The show was
Speaker 1: produced by Me Topher Forehead, Jordan Gaspore, and Magnus Hendrickson.
Speaker 1: Today's main story was reported by Justin Bachman. Original music
Speaker 1: by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Francesco Levi and Rick Shine.
Speaker 1: Francesca Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.