Universal guidelines urged for air travel

Governments should urgently adopt new global air travel guidelines, such as the wearing of face masks, to restore air connectivity and ensure safe air travel safe in a world with Covid19, an international aviation association says.

Yesterday the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) adopted a new report and recommendations aimed at restarting the international air transport system and aligning its global recovery.

The recommendations include rapid testing, passenger health declaration forms, physical distancing, health screening such as temperature checks, and the wearing of face masks by crew and passengers.

As the aviation sector slowly dusts itself off after being decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a growing call for universal guidelines to be applied across the sector to ensure consistency around ways to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

The ICAO estimates that by the end of the year, the Covid-19 impact on international passenger traffic could reach reductions of up to 71 per cent of seat capacity and up to 1.5 billion passengers globally.

Airlines and airports face a potential loss of revenue of up to US$314 billion (NZ$498b) and US$100b respectively, for 2020.

The ICAO’s just released Takeoff report contains guidelines for public health risk mitigation measures and separate modules relating to airports, aircraft, crew, and air cargo.

The New Zealand Airline Pilots Association last month said it wanted face masks to be compulsory for air passengers to reduce the need for people to be separated on planes.