Normalcy Returns after COVID-19 Protocol Hiccups

Many countries have relaxed their COVID-19 protocols, but some are still maintaining certain level of restriction and that has continued to hamper air travel, writes Chinedu Eze

Many countries have relaxed Covid-19 protocols at their airports but there are still some countries that have maintained certain levels of restrictions. Since the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown and thereafter, there was drastic slump in passenger traffic, although the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it started picking up since 2021 and expressed hope for a pre 2019 situation.

There was total economic slump in the world since the emergence of Coronavirus pandemic, but now there are moves to rekindle the global economy and moving people from place to place is one of the ways to resurrect the economy devastated by the pandemic.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s preliminary compilation of annual global statistics, the total number of passengers carried on scheduled services rose to 4.5 billion in 2019, which was 3.6 per cent higher than the previous year, while the number of departures reached 38.3 million in 2019, a 1.7 per cent increase.

But in 2020 the international passenger data dropped to 1.8 billion passengers, lowest since 1950, according to the IATA. International passengers that flew across the globe dropped to 1.8 billion from 4.5 billion recorded in 2019. This represents a decrease of 60.2% in traffic.

ICAO release disclosed that the global passenger traffic recovered modestly in 2021, revealing that the number of passengers worldwide was 2.3 billion or 49 percent below pre-pandemic (2019) levels, up from the 60 percent drop seen in 2020.

IATA’S DECLARATION

IATA’s announcement of passenger data for March 2022 demonstrated that the recovery of air travel continues, but noted that impacts from the conflict in Ukraine on air travel demand were quite limited overall while Omicron-related effects continued to be confined largely to Asian domestic markets.

IATA stated that the total traffic in March 2022 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was up 76.0 per cent compared to March 2021. Although that was lower than the 115.9 per cent rise in February year-over-year demand, volumes in March were the closest to 2019 pre-pandemic levels, at 41 per cent below.

“March 2022 domestic traffic was up 11.7 per cent compared to the year-ago period, far below the 60.7 per cent year-over-year improvement recorded in February. This largely was a result of the Omicron-related lockdowns in China. March domestic RPKs were down 23.2 per cent versus March 2019,” IATA stated.

According to the global body, international RPKs rose 285.3 per cent versus March 2021, exceeding the 259.2 per cent gain experienced in February versus the year-earlier period. Most regions boosted their performance compared to the prior month, led by carriers in Europe. March 2022 international RPKs were down 51.9 per cent compared to the same month in 2019.

“With barriers to travel coming down in most places, we are seeing the long-expected surge in pent-up demand finally being realized. Unfortunately, we are also seeing long delays at many airports with insufficient resources to handle the growing numbers. This must be addressed urgently to avoid frustrating consumer enthusiasm for air travel,”

UNMASKING

It is in line with its campaign for total relaxation of all restrictions that IATA welcomed new guidance from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) removing its recommendation that masks should be required in-flight.

IATA said that EASA’s updated Aviation Health Safety Protocol, published 11 May, calls for the mandatory mask rule to be relaxed where rules have been relaxed for other transport modes, noting that this important shift reflects the high levels of vaccination, natural immunity levels, and the removal of domestic restrictions in many European nations.

It added that the updated guidance also acknowledges the need to move from an emergency situation to a more sustainable mode of managing COVID-19.

“We welcome EASA’s recommendation to relax the mask mandate, which is another important step along the road back to normality for air passengers. Travelers can look forward to freedom of choice on whether to wear a mask. And they can travel with confidence knowing that many features of the aircraft cabin, such as high frequency air exchange and high efficiency filters, make it one of the safest indoor environments,” Walsh said.

IATA noted that several jurisdictions still maintain mask requirements. That is a challenge for airlines and passengers flying between destinations with different requirements.

“We believe that mask requirements on board aircraft should end when masks are no longer mandated in other parts of daily life, for example theatres, offices or on public transport. Although the European protocol comes into effect next week, there is no globally consistent approach to mask-wearing on board aircraft. Airlines must comply with the regulations applicable to the routes they are operating. The aircraft crew will know what rules apply and it is critical that passengers follow their instructions. And we ask that all travelers be respectful of other people’s decision to voluntarily wear masks even if it not a requirement,” said Walsh.

In Nigeria, airlines still insist that passengers still wear their mask. THISDAY investigations revealed that many airlines still abide by the COVID-19 protocol, as contained in the directives of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC). While some Nigerian airlines still disembark row by row, still insist in wearing of mask and using sanitizer, some airlines allow passengers to disembark freely.

All Nigerian carriers do not share snacks to be eaten onboard; rather, passengers are handed over the snacks when disembarking the aircraft.

The Head of Communications, Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa told THISDAY that the airline is guided by the Covid-19 protocols as directed by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), but disembarking passengers row by row was initiative adopted by the airline to further protect its passengers.

“We shall continue to enforce the rules until we get further directive from the regulatory authority. We are aware that some countries have dropped some of these protocols,” he said.

RELAXING THE RULES

Earlier in the year, air travellers in Nigeria protested against strict enforcement of Covid-19 protocols when other countries, which recorded severe cases of the virus, had relaxed theirs.

Passengers railed against continuous enforcement of PCR tests by the federal government, as many countries including the US, UK and Saudi Arabia had relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, including dropping of PCR test for travelling public. That prompted the federal government to withdraw compulsory PCR test and currently travellers abide by the protocol of their destination countries.

Many countries still require pre-departure PCR test for inbound passengers and US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) announced last Sunday that it had waived the compulsory PCR test for inbound passengers.

CONCERNS IN NIGERIA

In March many international travellers and foreign airline officials in Nigeria cried out to government, saying the continued enforcement of strict COVID-19 test is a rip-off, as there is global drop in coronavirus cases and Nigeria recorded relatively very low cases at the worst of times.

Also the price of PCR test has not reduced but still about N50, 000 to N60, 000, depending on the lab recommended by officials of Port Health who are in charge of screening passengers who are travelling or arriving Nigeria.

Currently, THISDAY gathered that the price of PCR test still hovers around N50, 000 and passengers travelling to countries that require pre-departure test for in-bound passengers patronise the labs that dote around the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Nigeria’s busiest gateway.

BUILDING MOMENTUM

In early 2022, IATA reported a sharp 11-percentage point increase for international tickets sold in recent weeks (in proportion to 2019 sales).

It stated that the 11-percentage point improvement between the January and February periods is the fastest such increase for any two-week period since the Covid-19 crisis began.

“The jump in ticket sales comes as more governments announce a relaxation of COVID-19 border restrictions. An IATA survey of travel restrictions for the world’s top 50 air travel markets (comprising 92 per cent of global demand in 2019 as measured by revenue passenger kilometers) revealed the growing access available to vaccinated travelers.

“18 markets (comprising about 20 per cent of 2019 demand) are open to vaccinated travelers without quarantine or pre-departure testing requirements. 28 markets are open to vaccinated travelers without quarantine requirements (including the 18 markets noted above). This comprises about 50 per cent of 2019 demand.37 markets (comprising about 60 per cent of 2019 demand) are open to vaccinated travelers under varying conditions (18 having no restrictions, others requiring testing or quarantine or both).”

IATA noted that these numbers reflect a spate of relaxations announced around the world, including in Australia, France, the Philippines, the UK, Switzerland, and Sweden among them.

“Momentum toward normalizing traffic is growing. Vaccinated travelers have the potential to travel much more extensively with fewer hassles than even a few weeks ago. This is giving growing numbers of travelers the confidence to buy tickets. And that is good news! Now we need to further accelerate the removal of travel restrictions. While recent progress is impressive, the world remains far from 2019 levels of connectivity. Thirteen of the top 50 travel markets still do not provide easy access to all vaccinated travelers. That includes major economies like China, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, and Italy,” Walsh said.

But IATA has continued to call for the removal all travel barriers (including quarantine and testing) for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine, enabling quarantine-free travel for nonvaccinated travelers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result, removal of travel bans and acceleration of easing of travel restrictions in recognition that travellers that pose no greater risk for COVID-19 spread than already exists in the general population.

“Travel restrictions have had a severe impact on people and on economies. They have not, however, stopped the spread of the virus. And it is time for their removal as we learn to live and travel in a world that will have risks of COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. This means putting a stop to the singling out of the traveling population for special measures. In nearly all cases, travelers don’t bring any more risk to a market than is already there. Many governments have recognized this already and removed restrictions. Many more need to follow,” said Walsh.

In April 2022, the Nigerian Presidential Steering Committee revised its Covid-19 travel released on November 29, 2021 and introduced new interim travel guidelines.

It stated that for passengers arriving in Nigeria who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer required to carry out COVID-19 PCR test before boarding Nigeria-bound flights.

It also directed that fully vaccinated passengers arriving Nigeria would not also be required to carry out post arrival PCR test or a Rapid Antigen Test upon arriving Nigeria and children below the age of 18 years would be accorded the same privileges as persons who are fully vaccinated.

“In-bound passengers who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated for COVID-19 shall take a COVID-19 PCR test 48 hours before departure and undergo Days 2 and 7 post-arrival PCR tests at their own cost and all in-bound passengers must register via the online Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP–https://nitp.ncdc.gov.ng).

“All passengers travelling out of Nigeria are encouraged to have evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19; comply with the COVID-19 guidelines of their destination or transit countries; and to familiarize themselves with the COVID-19 travel requirements of their destination and transit countries before embarking on the journey,” the guidelines stated.