Asia-Pacific states have been urged to further relax border restrictions to accelerate the region’s recovery from the pandemic.
The call was made in Singapore by Iata director general Willie Walsh who identified China and Japan as the two big gaps in the region’s recovery.
Asia-Pacific international passenger demand for March reached just 17% of pre-Covid levels, after having hovered at below 10% for most of the last two years.
“This is far below the global trend where markets have recovered to 60% of pre-crisis levels,” Walsh said.
“The lag is because of government restrictions. The sooner they are lifted, the sooner we will see a recovery in the region’s travel and tourism sector, and all the economic benefits that will bring.”
He described Asia-Pacific as “playing catch-up” on restarting travel after Covid-19, but there is growing momentum with governments lifting many travel restrictions.
Walsh added: “The demand for people to travel is clear. As soon as measures are relaxed there is an immediate positive reaction from travellers.
“So it is critical that all stakeholders, including governments, are well-prepared for the restart. We cannot delay. Jobs are at stake and people want to travel,” he told the Changi Aviation Summit.
Walsh urged Asia-Pacific governments to continue easing measures and bring normalcy to air travel by:
• Removing all restrictions for vaccinated travellers.
• Removing quarantine and Covid-19 testing for unvaccinated travellers where there are high levels of population immunity, which is the case in most parts of Asia.
• Lift the mask mandate for air travel when it is no longer required in other indoor environments and public transport.
“Supporting and more importantly accelerating the recovery will need a whole of industry and government approach,” said Walsh. “Airlines are bringing back the flights. Airports need to be able to handle the demand. And governments need to be able to process security clearances and other documentation for key personnel efficiently.”
He added: “So long as the Chinese government continues to maintain their zero-Covid approach, it is hard to see the country’s borders reopening. This will hold back the region’s full recovery.
“While Japan has taken steps to allow travel, there is no clear plan for the reopening of Japan for all inbound visitors or tourists. More needs to be done to further ease travel restrictions, starting with lifting quarantine for all vaccinated travellers, and removing both the on-arrival airport testing and daily arrival cap.
“I urge the government of Japan to take bolder steps towards recovery and opening of the country’s borders.”
Asia-Pacific governments also need to support the industry’s sustainability efforts.
“Airlines have committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. A key to our success will be governments sharing the same vision,” Walsh said.
“Achieving net zero requires everyone to shoulder their responsibility. And among the most important things that governments should do is incentivizing the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).
“Airlines have bought every drop of SAF that is available. Projects are underway that will see a rapid increase in SAF production over the next years. We see SAF contributing to 65% of the mitigation needed to achieve net zero in 2050. That will require governments to be much more proactive.”
He acknowledged that there have been positive developments in Asia-Pacific. Japan has committed considerable funds for green aviation initiatives while New Zealand and Singapore have agreed to co-operate on green flights.
“Singapore’s cross-industry international advisory panel on a sustainable aviation air hub is a positive example for other states to adopt,” Walsh said.