On a full 2-hour flight, one scientist has estimated that about 1 in 4300 passengers will pick up Covid-19, on average.

If airlines leave the middle seat empty, only about 1 in 7700 will catch it https://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

The odds of dying of a case contracted in flight are even lower — between 1 in 400,000 and 1 in 600,000 — depending on your age and other factors.

Those odds are comparable to the average risk of getting a fatal case in a typical two hours on the ground http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

Despite the known dangers of enclosed spaces, planes have not been linked to superspreading events.

That’s not to say flying is perfectly safe — safety is relative. We need to start thinking in terms of risk-benefit ratios http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

When quantifying the odds of catching Covid from flying, we need to factor in a bunch of variables:

The infectious stage of Covid-19
The risk that masks will fail
The way air circulates in the cabin
The row you’re in
The people sitting near you http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

Other experts have been mixed on whether they, personally, would fly.

The Boston Globe recently reported that of 15 epidemiologists and infectious disease experts surveyed, 13 said they would not fly at this time http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

Air exchange systems in planes are better than in hospitals, with the air in the cabin being completely replaced 30 times every hour.

Customers should, if possible, choose an airline that promises to keep the middle seat open http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

Real-world data bodes well for flying, too.

Australia has been using contact tracing to investigate Covid-19 transmission on hundreds of flights, and has found that while infected people got on planes, nobody got infected on a plan http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

By worrying less about the relatively safer part of a trip — the actual flight — we can pay more attention to the potentially riskier parts, such as crowds and tightly packed lines at the airport http://trib.al/LASFM2Y 

What happens when you arrive at your destination matters too.

Traveling around and mingling with distant contacts can increase the risk of spreading the virus more than mingling with a comparable number of people closer to home http://trib.al/LASFM2Y