Page 30 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 Online Magazine

mission to enhance passenger wellbeing in
© Pexco Aerospace the cabin. A win-win all around.
Delivering for Passengers

By preventing unwanted odours from enter-
ing passengers’ personal space, AirShield
enhances the infight experience by offering a
‘virtual distance’ in the cabin where a physical
one is impossible. While it reshapes air flow
from the gaspers, AirShield does not alter the
cabin’s temperature or the volume of air sup-
plied beyond that of a traditional air vent. The
technology is even 50 percent quieter than
standard gaspers, helping create a relaxing
Engineering Expertise ambience onboard. An independent passen-
ger survey of leisure travellers in the US has
Retrofitted over the existing passenger air gaspers situated above showcased the growing demand for interior
every seat, AirShield works in harmony with the existing HEPA innovations like AirShield:
filtration system to create protective air barriers between and
around every passenger in the cabin, restricting unwanted germs •91 percent agreed that AirShield makes
and odours from entering their personal space. them feel like an airline is taking care of them.

AirShield has been scientifically proven to reduce shared air •89 percent would feel more comfortable
between passengers by a minimum of 76 percent (in a full econ- flying with AirShield post-pandemic.
omy cabin with no facemasks) and increase the speed at which •86 percent of respondents also stated
contaminated particles are expelled from the cabin and replaced they would choose to fly with an airline with
by freshly purified air by 230 percent. AirShield installed over one without.
These air barriers drastically minimise the sharing of exhaled •71 percent would also pay more for a ticket
air and ensure that every passenger onboard only breathes the if an airline equipped its planes with AirShield.
purified air meant for them. Droplets from every breath, sneeze,
and cough are captured, contained, and sent down to the HEPA
filters before they reach other passengers or flight crew – some- Time to Take Off
thing of extreme importance given the proximity of people in a Since the inception of the idea in 2020, we
narrowbody cabin. have invested in more than 8,000 subject

matter expert person-hours, generated more
Helping Hygiene than 60 million data points of CFD, created
Each AirShield is engineered to be highly durable and able to more than 30 prototypes for more than 100
lab tests, and completed 22 on-wing tests in
withstand abuse and manual interference while also being the aircraft of four major airlines.
streamlined enough not to obstruct passengers’ line of sight to
emergency signage and lighting in the cabin. The technology During that time, flight schedules have
does not impact smoke evacuation of the existing HEPA filtration bounced back, and things would appear to
system. As each AirShield unit is not located in the ‘head strike’ be back to normal in some parts of the world
zone, there is no need for airlines looking to benefit from the – but they are not. The pandemic has funda-
technology to recertify their seats. mentally changed the way that people feel
about public spaces. In the absence of the
AirShield is also extremely lightweight (weighing less than a visual safety cues in the cabin that we saw
pound) and designed to be simple to manufacture and quick to throughout the pandemic (like facemasks
install on an aircraft. Its unique design consists of a three-piece and empty middle seats), the industry must
clip-together assembly, installation takes less than a minute, and now deliver effective, perceptible, and lasting
an entire aircraft can be retrofitted during standard overnight changes that respond to the evolved needs of
maintenance. the post-pandemic traveller.

As an additional layer of hygiene protection, our team at Pexco That is why we are so excited about AirShield
also developed an antimicrobial additive from which to manu- – it is all those things. And we believe it will set
facture each AirShield unit. This additive destroys 99.99 percent new standards and expectations for passen-
of bacteria (even antibiotic-resistant strains such as MRSA, VRE, ger wellbeing in the cabin and help take the
and CRE) upon contact – supporting airlines and OEMs on their inflight experience to even greater heights.

30 | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/AAA