LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Airlines, airports and
regulators have given their backing to a plan to turn large
passenger aircraft into intensive care wards during the
coronavirus pandemic, a UK-based group working on the idea said
on Monday.
The group, calling themselves Caircraft, believe that big
aircraft like A380s and A340s, which are grounded due to
coronavirus travel restrictions, could be stripped down and
refitted with ICU beds and equipment in seven to ten days.
Between 100-150 beds could fit on each aircraft depending on
the size of the jet under the group's design plans, and it is
now waiting for government support for funding and coordination.
"We've had various conversations at various levels. And we
absolutely appreciate how busy they are with everything else
going on," aviation economist Chris Tarry said of contact with
government.
"It's a question of reaching the right desks at the right
time."
Tarry has joined entrepreneur Nick Dyne, Jonathan Sackier,
Visiting Professor of Surgery at Oxford University’s Nuffield
Department of Surgical Sciences and others on the plan.
The group is also talking to the U.S. government, Canada,
Germany and Malaysia about the idea, Dyne said.
UK airlines with parked-up widebody jets support the idea,
said Dyne without naming them, although they are believed to
include British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, as well as
a number of UK airports and the UK aviation regulator, the CAA.
Britain is bracing for the epidemic to peak in the coming
weeks, and is building field hospitals in London, Birmingham,
Manchester and Cardiff to bolster its state-run National Health
Service (NHS).
Under the Caircraft plans, which the group has been working
on for a week, the aircraft would first fly to the place where
they were to be needed, before being fitted out. They would not
move once treating patients.
"What we don't want to do is to be a flying hospital. The
regulatory issues regarding that are just too great," said Dyne.
The group say the advantage of using planes is that not only
are they mobile and there are plenty of them now available, but
also that their filtered, one-way airflow systems mirror those
of an operating theatre.
Dyne declined to comment on the how much it would cost to
convert each aircraft.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Stephen Addison)