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Boeing and Healthe Team Up for Cabin-Cleaning UV Wand

Ultraviolent cabin cleaning just took another step forward, as Boeing entered a partnership with Florida-based Healthe to manufacture UV cleaning wands for aircraft. Research suggests that the UV rays from the wands may kill pathogens on surfaces, including the novel Coronavirus.

Airlines will soon have another tool available in fighting the spread of COVID-19. Boeing announced they are entering a patent and technology licensing agreement with Florida-based Healthe, to manufacture hand-held ultraviolet light wands to clean aircraft cabins.

UV Lights Promises Instant Sanitation for High-Touch Surfaces

Under the agreement, Healthe will build and sell the wand devices to airlines, with the first available in the Fall of 2020. The UV wand will emit 222 nanometer UV-C light, which studies suggest could kill pathogens – including the novel Coronavirus.

The UV lights would compliment other cleaning plans offered by airlines, including enhanced options brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The wand offers a compact design to interact with high-touch surfaces, including in-flight entertainment screens, seats, tray tables and armrests.

“The UV wand is designed to be more effective than similar devices. It quickly disinfects surfaces on an airplane and further strengthens other layers of protection for passengers and crew,” Mike Delaney, lead of Boeing’s Confident Travel Initiative, said in a press release. “Boeing spent six months transforming an idea for the wand into a working model, and Healthe will now take that prototype and make it available to the world at large.”

The wand already has a practical test with Etihad Airways, which demonstrated its use on their Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. According to the Chicago-based aerospace company, the wand is designed to sanitize everywhere the light reaches, and can sanitize a cockpit in 15 minutes.

UV Light Part of Regular Health Protocols for Airlines

While Boeing and Healthe will market one of the first hand-held devices for UV sanitation, it’s not the first to hit the market. In July 2020, JetBlue introduced a cabin-sanitizing robot in partnership with Honeywell. Designed to clean narrow-body aircraft, the robot moves up and down the main aisle to shower seats and other high-touch surfaces with UV rays.

Feature image courtesy: Boeing

1 Comments
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Dr.Ells September 23, 2020

Kindly refrain from publishing “articles” that are nonsensical and basically performance art related. At some point, little tidbits such as these will be remembered as the final straw that nailed the coffin of travel.