Maskless travel? VisAir – a Covid-considered travel concept

With the advent of new phenomena such as Covid-19 being introduced into air travel, airlines should ask themselves how they might change what they need to do in the future and how they can delve deeper to find new ways of building passenger confidence.  Now, more than ever, there is a huge opportunity to make their offer more people-focused.

At Tangerine we are evolving our collaborative design processes to introduce service design methodologies that will support innovation for airlines.

Geraint Edwards, the new global head of service design at Tangerine says, “Now is the time now to be considered and crafty, rather than flabby, opulent and over the top. The smart people in the room are thinking more holistically. They are not thinking about germs and PPE, they are looking beyond this.”

“Tactility is dead. Now no one wants to touch. How do we go about designing for an untactile experience in a world where your phone becomes not only a communication tool but also becomes your gateway to the world?” he adds.

The current Covid pandemic customer experience reads like a public information exercise; the messaging is all about Covid compliance and is very generic in tone. As designers we can be more considered and help airlines to shift the mindset from Covid-compliant to Covid-considered.

One such Covid-considered solution conceptualised by Tangerine is VisAir, a personal purified air shield which can be worn around the neck to protect against foreign germs and pollutants during a flight.

Having observed passengers struggling to wear their masks during the duration of even the shortest of flights, the Tangerine team came up with a solution for a portable wearable device that can rest comfortably on the neck and create a protective air bubble in front of the face by sucking in air from the underside, purifying it using in-built HEPA filtration, and then pushing clean uncontaminated air out across the face.  This will act as a barrier to any droplet or aerosol particulates hanging in the shared air of the aircraft.

The solution is designed for comfort, replacing the need for conventional masks which are often fiddled with and removed for discomfort throughout a long journey. VisAir is re-chargeable and can last the duration of a flight and then plugged to charge and be cleaned by attendants, with filters replaced between use. Or passengers could choose to purchase their VisAir and bring them with them on their flights for added peace of mind.

VisAir, a personal purified air shield which can be worn around the neck to protect against foreign germs and pollutants during a flight

Economy and Premium options – either receiving air locally from the aircraft or working off a chargeable battery-powered solution