DALLAS -- American Airlines will add more than 200 flights a day out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to schedules next week and is starting to fill planes to capacity, making July a major test of passenger willingness to reenter a more crowded travel world.
Fort Worth-based American will fly up to 667 flights on peak days with a new, ramped-up schedule starting July 9. The 85% cap on seat sales is also gone as of Wednesday.
The airline's leaders hope increased cleaning, mask requirements and other health precautions can help stop the spread of the coronavirus on planes, even as Texas and other parts the country are seeing spikes in the number of cases.
"I think travel as we know it has changed," said Jim Butler, "American Airlines' senior vice president of airports and operations.
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On Friday, American Airlines expects to put about 44,000 passengers on planes at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. At the worst of the pandemic, American dropped to about 200 flights a day out of Dallas-Fort Worth. That will be back above 600 in July.
The airline, along with its major competitors, introduced a health assessment to the check-in process on Tuesday. There are plastic-glass barriers at many employee stations and the airline has cut down on workers handling boarding passes.
American also is sending in a crew of five employees between every flight for a 20-minute wipe down of seats, tray tables and other items in frequent contact with passengers. Planes get an electrostatically applied disinfectant spray once a week, too, Butler said.
"Before, it was more of a tidying up, removing trash and straightening the plane," Butler said.
John Alford, who runs ABM's cleaning teams at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, said the enhanced procedures have allowed the contractor to bring employees back up to full work schedules after cutting hours early in the pandemic.
Overnight, five or six workers spend about 90 minutes cleaning each plane, Butler said.
High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) air filters on commercial aircraft draw new or filtered air into the cabin every two to four minutes, Butler said.
Cabin air is filtered from the top down and airlines recommend opening overhead vents to let the filtered air flow. As air is pushed downward, it reenters the filtration system along the walls of the aircraft and repeats the process, mixing outside air with filtered air.
Airlines are also partnering with health care partners to step up their protocols.
Two of the nation's top disease experts criticized American in a congressional hearing Tuesday because the carrier will no longer limit seating capacity on planes.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was "substantial disappointment" with American's new policy and the company is sending the wrong message at a time the country is still struggling with the pandemic.
"I'm not sure what went into that decision making," Dr. Anthony Fauci told a Senate panel. "I think in the confines of an airplane that becomes even more problematic."