The trade association representing the bulk of the world’s airlines, 265 airlines from 117 countries, says a priority for reopening of the skies is acceleration of the establishment of global standards for vaccination and testing certification. IATA has called on the world’s governments to partner with the aviation industry to safely reopen the skies, particularly as vaccination efforts around the world gain momentum.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has asked all their members and host governments to devise a scheme to safely re-link people, businesses and economies as soon as the Covid-19 situation permits.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel as vaccination programs roll out. Turning this vision into a safe and orderly re-start will require careful planning and coordination by governments and industry. This will be challenging as the priority for the weeks and months ahead will be containing the spread of new variants. But even as the crisis deepens, it is important to prepare the way for a resumption of flights when the epidemiological situation permits. Understanding government policy benchmarks and agreeing the global standards needed to support a return to normality in travel will ensure that air transport is well prepared and does not become a meaningful vector for reimportation. Airlines are ready to support governments in this task,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
IATA says it is ready to partner with governments to facilitate a globally consistent, efficient and effective approach. This includes supporting vaccination strategies to protect healthcare workers and the most vulnerable populations first.
Said de Juniac: “As we have seen, unilateral government decisions are very effective in shutting down global mobility. Re-establishing the freedom to travel, however, can only be done with cooperation. Governments are already seeing how challenging that will be without global standards for vaccines or tests. This puts a spotlight on the urgency of the essential work being done by WHO, OECD and ICAO. IATA is participating in these initiatives and stands ready to help governments with implementation.”
IATA also describes its in-house developed app, the IATA Travel Pass, as an industry solution to help governments, airlines and individual travellers manage vaccine or testing requirements with accurate information, secure identification and verified data.
“Based on our deep experience of driving transformational change in global air transport, we believe that IATA Travel Pass will offer the best support to governments in managing vaccination and testing data to safely facilitate travel. But the success of any of the solutions being developed will depend on governments working with and trusting each other.
Air transport built its reputation on safety by cooperating with governments to ensure universal implementation of transparent global standards. That’s a compelling model for how industry and governments can work together to re-connect the world using opportunities-created testing and vaccination progress,” said de Juniac.