Transport aérien de l’oxygène en cabine et en soute : risques, réglementation et pratiques en situation de crise

Never before has oxygen (O(2)), in all its forms of production, played such a major role than in the current COVID-19 crisis. It was therefore only natural that this gas, which is common but valuable in a crisis situation, should be both a key element and a major constraint in the air transport of COVID-19 contaminated patients. O(2) is indeed considered by the air transport industry as a “Dangerous good” because of its oxidising properties which can favour an in-flight fire, as well as by conditioning under pressure, with the associated risks. It is therefore only natural that, since the massive development of air transport in the middle of the 20th century, standards, regulations and recommendations, more or less restrictive, have been put in place. This is not without bringing constraints and important limitations to the capacity to transport by plane simultaneously a great number of oxygen-requiring patients, but is also an important element of guarantee of safety in order to avoid that, pushed by the medical or logistic need, medical teams are tempted to go out of the framework, at the risk of going towards an incident in flight which can prove to be dramatic. For the future, some promising avenues should be explored, in particular high-capacity oxygen concentrators.