(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. plans to test whether blasts of air could prevent germs and viruses such as Covid-19 from circulating between rows of jetliner passengers, as part of a broader initiative to make air travel safer and greener.
The planemaker is installing 20 overhead air vents with special 3D-printed nozzles to create a “curtain of air” in a new 737 Max 9 jet, Doug Christensen, a Boeing technical fellow, told reporters Thursday. Alaska Airlines contributed the so-called ecoDemonstrator aircraft to test new technologies over the next five months.
“If you got on a plane and the person in front of you sneezes and those particles are floating around, it makes you nervous,” said Christensen, who is also the ecoDemonstrator program technical leader. “Those nozzles will actually drive air down and away from the breathing area, and cause the particles to be recirculated and cleaned.”
The ecoDemonstrator is the eighth commercial airliner that's served as a flying testbed since 2012 to try out 195 projects dreamed up by Boeing's engineers. This year's effort features about 20 promising technologies, including the following:
- A new fire-extinguishing agent for airplane engines that significantly reduces damage to the ozone layer versus Halon 1301, which is no longer being produced.
- Recycling carbon-composite scraps left over from production of its 777X wing into cabin sidewall panels.
- “Acoustic gloves” in engine covers known as nacelles to help make airplanes quieter.
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