“Partner with Industry to Re-Connect the World”- De Juniac to Governments - By Daisy BARRO

 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on the governments of the world to partner with the aviation industry in order to swiftly re-connect people, economies and businesses as soon as it is possible to do so.

IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac voiced his opinion on the importance of being ready to fully resume flight activities as soon as possible. In his own words, “…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 on 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 re-importation. Airlines are ready to support governments in this task.”

According to sources, some governments have imposed travel requirements such as testing, exemption from travel restrictions for the already vaccinated, compulsory mask wearing, amongst others – measures which have been encouraged by IATA. The Association has also called for a global harmonization of all these measures, in order to facilitate passengers’ movement from one travel destination to another.

As the vaccination roll-out continues, de Juniac notes the disadvantage of unilateral actions by governments in preparing for full flight resumption. “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… IATA is participating in these initiatives and stands ready to help governments with implementation,” said de Juniac.

He ended by reiterating that just as governments partnered with the industry in the past to score major victories like global aviation safety, they need to continue to collaborate with the air transport industry now in order to better re-connect the world and increase global mobility.