Seven years before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Arthur Kreitenberg, a Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon, came up with a discovery in his basement to quickly disinfect aircraft cabin using ultraviolet light.

He even bought an airplane seat from the airline grave in the Mojave Desert to test his idea.

But the idea was not quickly understood. His wife joked that fiddling with Kreitenberg in the basement was “cheaper than having a boyfriend.” At the many trade shows and flight conferences he attended to present his findings, few showed interest.

COVID-19 changed all that.

Honeywell International, a multinational conglomerate with annual sales of $ 37 billion, announced this month that it collaborated with Kreitenberg to build UV inventions and distribute them to world airlines. The company plans to build more than 100 units by the end of July, with production increases in the following months.

This discovery, originally called GermFalcon, looks like an airline drink cart equipped with two mechanical arms that stretch over the aircraft seat like a pair of wings. The arms emit UV light when the cart is pushed into the aisle.

Kreitenberg’s son Elliot, who had released his batting basement cage for his father’s discovery, had worked with his father to get GermFalcon off the ground.

This tool can disinfect the cabin in about 10 minutes at a cost of around $ 10 per aircraft, according to Honeywell, which markets the device as a Honeywell UV Cabin System.

That is not a novel concept. The US Patent and Trademark Office database shows more than 30 patents filed since 1995 that propose the use of UV light to sterilize water, air, surgical equipment, cellphone screens, and catheters, among them.

Medical experts noted that UV light had been used to disinfect hospital operating rooms, and the two most magnificent hotels in Southern California, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and Beverly Hilton, recently announced plans to use UV lights to disinfect their rooms in response to the outbreak coronavirus.

But experts point out that after the aircraft cabin is disinfected, a passenger infected with COVID-19 can sit and endanger the health of many pilots.

The greatest risk of being infected is from close contact with others, said Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco. Using UV light to disinfect aircraft cabins “might help,” he said. “But UV light isn’t everything and everything.”

Philip Barruel, biosafety program manager for laboratory research at UC Davis, agreed, saying UV light might not reach far enough to crease and the corners of an aircraft cabin to kill the virus.

“There is a lot that is not known about this virus,” he said.

Kreitenberg acknowledged that his discovery would only reduce the chance of being infected by germs left on the surface of the airline’s cabin and would not make flying completely safe.

However, he showed that UV rays can kill certain types of germs, with the potential to help stem the spread of influenza and other diseases.

Neither Honeywell nor Kreitenberg will disclose the financial terms of the partnership or the price they will charge the airline to buy or rent a UV cabin system.

Honeywell began in early June to meet with airlines and demonstrate the UV cabin system but has not yet received a commitment from any operator.

“The initial reaction from the airline was very positive,” said Honeywell spokesman Adam Kress. “We believe this product has great potential on airlines throughout the world, but we are starting a direct demonstration with domestic operators.”

It all starts with volleyball.

While attending his daughter Zoe’s college volleyball match, Kreitenberg noticed that during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak the players did not shake hands to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus. But all players touch the same volleyball.

Inspired by the use of UV light to disinfect the operating room, Kreitenberg invented a device – dubbed Germ Ninja – to quickly disinfect the ball by passing UV light over it. This discovery was so successful that it was used at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Shortly after, Elliot Kreitenberg flew home from campus, trying to sleep with his face leaning on a folding tray. A fellow flyer warned Elliot about germs on the tray, reminding him that it was flu season. Elliot told the story to his father, and the idea of ​​using UV light to disinfect commercial aircraft had hatched.

Elliot, a business major from Skidmore College, wants to run his own company. After some research and encouragement from a college professor, he decided to do business with his father to sell GermFalcon. Elliot became president and co-founder with his father from Dimer LLC, who was named part of the process that kills the virus with UV light.

The father-son team estimates they visit up to 20 trade shows and conferences, hoping to sell ideas – without success. One challenge is trying to talk directly with airline executives who have the authority to approve purchases.

Executives at Virgin America, a California-based operator launched by Sir Richard Branson, expressed interest in the UV cabin system in 2014, but the sale fell when Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America in 2016.

“It seems like every conversation we have with airlines or people who visit our booth at trade shows is interested,” Elliot Kreitenberg, 28, said. “Somewhere along the way, it’s gone.”

The company has survived for many years thanks to investments, mostly from doctors.

After the coronavirus pandemic reached the US earlier this year, Kreitenbergs offered to donate the use of GermFalcon to disinfect aircraft that were flying passengers from abroad. A number of airlines at Los Angeles International Airport accepted the offer, which attracted the attention of several cable television news outlets. It also received attention from several potential business partners, including Honeywell.

Elliot Kreitenberg said they agreed to partner with Honeywell because it had “the infrastructure and footprint in the aviation industry to overcome the entry barriers” they faced.

The father-daughter team isn’t finished yet. They are now working on a GermFalcon version that can be used in classrooms, offices, buses and train stations, among other locations. They call it the UV Hammer.