Icao to govts: Adopt air travel guide in reopening

THE 260-member association for the world’s airlines on Tuesday asked governments to adopt the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) Covid-19 recommendations, in order to restore suspended air travel as lockdowns are lifting across the world starting this month.

The head of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said a universal implementation of global standards has made aviation safe, and called for a similar approach amid the Covid-19 pandemic, “so that we can safely restore air connectivity as borders and economies reopen.”

Alexandre de Juniac, the Iata director general and CEO, said, “Now we are counting on governments to implement the recommendations quickly, because the world wants to travel again and needs airlines to play a key role in the economic recovery.” He added, “And we must do this with global harmonization and mutual recognition of efforts to earn the confidence of travelers and air transport workers.”

De Juniac said the “Takeoff” guidance document was built with the best expertise of government and industry “and the airlines strongly support it.”

He was referring to the Icao Council-approved document Takeoff: “Guidance for Air Travel through the Covid-19 Public Health Crisis [Takeoff].” Icao is a UN agency established to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

De Juniac said this is an authoritative and comprehensive framework of risk-based temporary measures for air transport operations during the Covid-19 crisis.

Takeoff proposes a phased approach to restarting aviation and identifies a set of generally applicable risk-based measures.

De Juniac said that according to the recommendations and guidance from public health authorities, the proposal “will mitigate the risk of transmission of the Covid-19 virus during the travel process.” These measures include:

■ Physical distancing to the extent feasible and implementation of “adequate risk-based measures where distancing is not feasible, for example in aircraft cabins;”

■ Wearing of face coverings and masks by passengers and aviation workers;

■ Routine sanitation and disinfection of all areas with potential for human contact and transmission;

■ Health screening, which could include pre- and post-flight self-declarations, as well as temperature screening and visual observation, “conducted by health professionals”;

■ Contact tracing for passengers and aviation employees: updated contact information should be requested as part of the health self-declaration, and interaction between passengers and governments should be made directly through government portals;

■ Passenger health declaration forms, including self-declarations in line with the recommendations of relevant health authorities. Electronic tools should be encouraged to avoid paper;

■ Testing: if and when real-time, rapid and reliable testing becomes available.