As the pandemic eases and with it travel restrictions, quarantines, and lockdowns, people will gradually resume flying. They might do so nervously, and tentatively. Most of them won’t fear engine failures, pilot error, or suicidal terrorists. They will fear one another, eyeing every fellow passenger as a potential pathogen host. And they will fear their tray tables, their armrests, and all other surfaces that could harbor the virus over the course of a few flights.
The temptation will arise not only because of the blurred line between safety and comfort, but also out of desperation. The entire airline industry system will likely suffer from serious overcapacity for years to come—too many carriers with too many jets chasing too few passengers.
At the other end of the aviation spectrum, we might see business jet charter providers, or other private aviation market players, break the code by suggesting this is no time to be boarding planes with hundreds of other passengers . The cost of private aviation means it only competes directly with scheduled air service for a very select clientele. But it would still be an unwelcome development if private services directly advertised their virtues with references to the pandemic.
If an airline wants to exceed these standards, that’s fine. It can do so quietly without trying to upcharge for them or gain market share as a result, much like how airlines currently don’t boast of how much training their pilots may get above what’s legally required.