American Airlines Gets Approval to Use Seven-Day Virus Killer Spray

American Airlines is the first carrier to receive emergency approval to start using a new surface coating on its planes that kills coronaviruses for as many as seven days. The Environmental Protection Agency issued the emergency declaration for Allied BioScience Inc.’s SurfaceWise2 product, allowing it to be used in some American Airlines planes and airport facilities.

“This is a major, game-changing announcement for our efforts to combat coronavirus and Covid-19,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters on a conference call, according to Bloomberg. “This is a groundbreaking step that is expected to provide a longer-lasting protection in public spaces, increasing consumer confidence in resuming normal air travel and other activities.”

Restoring public confidence in air travel has been a big issue for airlines. They have admitted than even some of the measures taken so far do little to protect from the virus, but are important to convince travelers to start flying again. coronavirus pandemic. Air travel has seen a big boost recently from it’s lows in April, but still remains at 70% less than a year ago, based on the number of passenger screened by the Transportation Security Administration at U.S. airports. At its lowest points, air travel was down 96% year over year.

The EPA issued the emergency exemption to Texas under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Another orthopedic business with two locations in Texas was also approved to use the SurfaceWise2 product. Other states are expected to seek their own exemptions soon, which would open up the possibility of the product being used by other airlines, and also schools and and other facilities. Allied BioScience is pursuing this emergency waiver across all 50 states.

SurfaceWise2 is the latest surface coating from Allied BioScience with antiviral properties that continuously kill 99.9% of viruses on surfaces. The non-toxic coating is applied via an electrostatic spray to provide always-on protection on treated surfaces.

American Airlines will begin spraying the product across its fleet, though it is limited to applying the disinfectant in the state of Texas under the current EPA authorization. So eventuall the airline will need to work with other states to seek emergency exemptions so planes sprayed with SurfaceWise2’s can be used within their borders.