Air transport body Iata is calling on governments to “make real progress towards restoring global air connectivity” by adopting 14 agreed measures to help the revival of aviation.
States attending the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) High Level Conference on Covid-19 (HLCC) earlier this month declared their commitment to 14 measures which, if acted upon, “would enable airlines to meet the demands of consumers worldwide for a revival of air travel”, said Iata.
The measures encompass the implementation and recognition of testing, recovery and vaccinations certificates; a harmonised multi-layer risk management approach; and the entry of fully vaccinated and recovered passengers.
Willie Walsh, Iata’s director general, said: “Government-imposed restrictions continue to stop a revival of international travel. It remains 70% down on pre-crisis levels.
“The ICAO HLCC commitments show that governments understand what is needed to re-start global connectivity. The task now is implementation.
“Some governments have already started. The imminent opening of the US market to vaccinated travellers will be a big step forward.
“But we cannot let the output of this meeting remain as words on paper. The airline industry, 88 million livelihoods, 3.5% of global GDP and billions of travellers are counting on governments to deliver on the risk-managed reopening of international travel to which they have committed.”
He also urged governments to adopt the digital Iata Travel Pass to manage travel health credentials.
Walsh added: “Airlines cannot afford a restart that is compromised by paper-based processes for checking travel health credentials.
“Testing is complete and several airlines are already starting implementation of Iata Travel Pass across their networks.
“It’s also a ready-made solution for governments to be prepared to efficiently manage their documentation processes as demand ramps up.”