The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to use the commitments reached at the ICAO High-Level Conference on COVID-19 (HLCC) to make real progress towards restoring global air connectivity.
The was disclosed by the global body via a statement issued on Saturday and seen by Nairametrics.
States attending the ICAO HLCC 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. In particular, two commitments need the most urgent action by governments.
What they are saying
The statement read in part:
“We commit to taking effective measures to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and other communicable diseases by international air travel, in particular through the implementation of the ICAO CART guidelines, and encourage the harmonization of Member States’ multilayer risk management strategies to safely restore international connectivity and support the revival of the global economy as a critical step towards achieving our goal to enhance the social, environmental and economic sustainability of aviation, ensuring the interoperability and mutual recognition of, and accessibility to, digital applications, secure transmission and validation of pandemic-related testing, vaccination and recovery certification that protects privacy and personal data.
“We commit to promoting, to the greatest extent possible, a harmonized and inclusive approach to facilitate safe international air travel, including alleviating or exempting testing and/or quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated or recovered passengers, taking into account the different circumstances of individual States and their national policies, in keeping with WHO’s policy and technical considerations for implementing a risk-based approach to international travel in the context of COVID-19, and providing exceptions for non-vaccinated passengers. This will enable us to work towards strengthening the confidence of the travelling public and safely rebuilding international civil aviation.”
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.”
What you should know
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.
