Resumption of International Air Travel Requires Global Approach

Aviation supports 65.5 million jobs around the world, with one job in the industry supporting 24 other jobs in the wider economy, but these livelihoods are now jeopardized due to the drastic plunge in travel demand caused by the global COVID19 pandemic.

Governments around the world are progressively implementing public health measures such as widespread COVID19 testing, contact tracing and social distancing. Similar measures are also being discussed as conditions to the resumption of air travel, but such measures need to be consistent, coherent and coordinated amongst governments working closely together with airlines, airports and health authorities, in line with the relevant World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

Mr. Subhas Menon, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) Director General, said, "Wherever possible processes such as travellers' health declarations should be automated and made available on mobile devices for the convenience of the travelling public. Departure screening procedures to mitigate the spread of COVID19 should preferably be applied before travellers board their flights. Precautionary measures onboard are being discussed, and will likely include the compulsory wearing of masks by all travellers and airline crew. Other measures such as leaving the middle seat empty have been suggested, but would make air travel much more costly without any meaningful public benefit in terms of risk reduction."

''The resumption of international air travel requires a global approach and harmonized measures across borders. AAPA calls on governments to work closely together and collaborate with industry in developing measures that are standardized, pragmatic, based on accepted medical standards and a robust risk management framework, in our common objective of serving the travelling public and reviving the wider economy," Mr. Menon added.

See latest Travel News, Video Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: COVID19, AAPA.