Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) officials said the organizations are seeking a globally-consistent approach to COVID-19 testing for international passengers.
“Airports and airlines are united in the view that a consistent approach to testing passengers will help to restore the confidence of passengers, avoid border closures, and remove cumbersome quarantine measures which are hampering the genuine efforts of the aviation industry to recover,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “This will better foster recovery among airports, airlines and the travel and tourism sectors, thereby protecting jobs and providing the economic and social benefits that aviation delivers to the local, national, and global communities it serves.”
The ACI and IATA maintain a systematic COVID-19 testing approach would provide an effective way to give governments the confidence to re-open borders without quarantine.
The organizations said the aviation industry has worked with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART) to agree upon and implement a layered approach to health measures that will enable safe operations amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“Systematic testing is the key to restoring connectivity,” IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. “That’s critical because millions of jobs depend on aviation. And millions more travellers want and need to reconnect with family, take a hard-earned vacation, or support their international business needs. We must learn to live with this disease, and that includes safely restoring the freedom to travel. Already we have measures in place to ensure safe journeys through ICAO’s CART recommendations. And trials around the world are helping us to demonstrate that we have effective testing technology that can be efficiently integrated into the travel process.”