The Safety-Hygiene Air Corridor between UK and Spain Will Coexist with COVID-19

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This article analyzes the air traffic, air cargo, the safety-hygiene air corridor between UK and Spain, and the need to create safety-hygiene air corridor elements to improve the air activity of countries in question.

The research is motivated by the fact that tourism and aviation industry have been strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the article addresses the use of air corridors in aviation and tourism sectors, which could rebalance the economy of airlines, airports, and tourist destinations, as well as it could improve the air activity between UK and Spain. The topic is interesting and research conducted gives solid base to future efforts of implementing safety-hygiene air corridor between UK and Spain.

The article is very well structured, with clear outline of literature review, methodology of the research, results and conclusions. Article also indicates theoretical and practical implications of the research, as well as it states its limitations and future research objectives. List of references is extensive and relevant to the research. English language and style are quite fine, but minor spelling check is required, as per comments in attached file. Also, few suggestions regarding structure of some sentences is provided in attached file to help to improve readability and soundness of the text.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

 

1º Reviewer

 

• Dear reviewer, I know that the number of citations is excessive, but we are tacking a subject unknown to many researchers, experts, and readers, for this reason, it would be convenient to include this number of citations to have a better global vision of this topic.

 

• Reviewer: regarding to the air cargo I disagree with you; this activity is very important in this moment of pandemic and war crisis. I know that the air freight activity needs a policy different to commercial airlines. Please, I finished a new paper related to the air cargo in USA and how this affect to aviation and e-commerce industries. Obviously, I cannot say to you about these results, because proximately this paper will be published, I am confident that the air cargo activity at airports is very important to airport operators and new business models, particularly when governments, airports and airlines are immersed in a decarbonization process to reduce global emissions by 2015 Paris agreement.

 

• Reviewer: We added several real examples related to air corridors according to suggestions to support this topic: A case study based on air corridor data within 150 miles of Edwards Air Force Base in Los Angeles (California) revealed that air corridor and traffic flow characteristics improve the operational architecture of the corridor’s locations, in fact, airport and airlines operators might make better decisions in terms of space and time to design new air corridors [27]. The air corridor of Akara-FuKue stretching 515 kilometers (320 miles) from the Chinese ICAO designated-area called Akara on its eastern coast to Japan’s Fukue Island. This air corridor improved the air connectivity between Incheon airport and Shanghai airport and reducing the risk of aircraft collisions. [30]. Thanks for your information and attention.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I have no significant comments on the revised manuscript.

Author Response

2º Reviewer

 

• Dear reviewer: The quality of figure has been considerably improved, now this figure is in black and white. Regarding to the results are presented in a general way without reference to the data shown in Figure 2 and Table 2. These data are explained in results and conclusions sections.

 

• Dear reviewer: Regarding to the reflection on how the implementation of SHACE protocol will influence the flow of passengers, the flow of cargo, and the airport operations; such reflections should be based of proper calculations. These are the instructions that passengers and air carriers must follow in line with ICAO, IATA, Eurocontrol, EASA, ACI and UNTWO rules to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Thanks for your information and attention.

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I still believe that this paper is flawed, as indicated in my initial review. To show that the safety corridor that is under review here has been effective we need a comparison with some routes to tourism destinations (of similar distance from the MAG origins) to see if there was any difference in passenger/airline operations in a non safety rules context. It is not enough just to look at the growth at origins and destinations.

The analysis of cargo seems mistaken as it is not an activity that will be "protected" by the safety protocols that would attract more cargo on these routes than on others. I think the inclusion of cargo in this paper illustrates the author has not really thought through the issue at hand, which is the effect of a policy  setting that will diminish health risks for passenger movement between selected destinations, and hence lead to a positive passenger response.  I know cargo is important in this time period. The problem is that the policy you are dealing with is not targeted at cargo. 

The number of footnotes/citations etc seems excessive. Are all essential? Can some statements/information be woven into the text?

Reviewer 2 Report

The results are presented in a general way without reference to the data shown in Fig. 2 and Table 2.  The reflection on how the implementation of SHACE protocol will influence the flow of passengers, the flow of cargo, and the airport operations; such reflections should be based of proper calculations.

The quality of Fig. 3 should be improved

Reviewer 3 Report

A summary 

I perceive the main aim of the paper, which is the analysis of air transport, air cargo, and air safety corridors between the United Kingdom and Spain at airports managed by MAG Group (UK) and AENA Group (Spain), as an effort by the authors to increase knowledge and support solutions for recovery and increasing the competitiveness of the aviation sector affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors investigate and verify the solution to the problem in the environment of mostly private airports in the United Kingdom and state-managed airports in Spain. The main benefit and strength of the paper are that it contributes to filling the gap in publications examining the impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry, but especially presents a possible approach to the safe recovery of the aviation sector on the application example of two countries that are historically linked from business and tourism. The concept of new Safety-Hygiene Air Corridor (SHAC) and Safety-Hygiene Air Corridor Elements (SHACE) are offered in an academic and praxeological debate, using scientific methods. The authors share new findings from the analysis in favor of the aviation sector as well as the education of the aviation community on the issue in the post-Covid period, in which we will unfortunately not avoid future pandemics.

General concept comments

It may not be clear to the reader which research question the authors are addressing. The Introduction section should define a specific research question or hypothesis that will be verified/tested in the research of the issue. Finally, the main aim of the work is briefly stated and the main conclusions are emphasized.

In the Introduction section, I recommend clearly defining the research question of your work.

The literature search on the issue is extensive. The authors used 129 references to research the issue. The references cited are, in my view, correct.

The authors used the relevant methodology to solve the problem. The authors use a database of data between London Stansted, Manchester, and the East Midlands are managed by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) and Málaga, Seville, Jerez, and Granada-Jaén in Andalusia, data from international aviation organizations and associations, and the experience of Spain. from the application of the tourism corridor protocol.

The tables and figures correlate with the content of the paper, they are easy to interpret and understand.

The article has its limits focused mainly on UK and Spain airports, but the conclusions are formulated, in line with the evidence presented and the authors' arguments. We can consider that the focus of the article may bring a new understanding of the need to create safe aviation corridors for the renewal of the aviation sector.

The document introduced the concept of SHAC between the two countries, which must guarantee the EASA Operational Protocol for COVID-19, ICAO Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis recommendations, COVID-19: Resources for Airlines & Air Transport Professionals IATA recommendations, and the health and safety regulations of each country. They partially filled the information gap in the research on the issue. The safety-hygiene air corridor (SHAC) is defined in this study as an air route operated by an airline that implements official safety and hygiene measures, to guarantee passengers no virus infection in the process of their journey from the airport of origin to the airport of destination.

The paper has the potential to generate additional research questions for the continuation of scientific work.

The manuscript is clear, relevant for the field, and presented in a required structured manner. The results of the research are including a discussion on the results. The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented.

 

Specific comments 

In the Introduction: lines 80-83

Identify the research question addressed in the broader context and purpose of the paper, the main goal of the paper, and the main results.

Overall Recommendation

I recommend the paper for publication in an academic and research discussion on the topic, with the minor addition of data in the Introduction of the paper.

Reviewer 4 Report

English writing should be improved significantly. In the current form of writing, it is very hard for reader to understand the novelty of paper

There are many repetitions in the paper.

Introduction is too verbose. 

The results are not significant