After a great deal of fragmented worldwide discussion on how best to deal with the CoVid19 virus during the revitalization of international air travel, ICAO has now provided a relatively good guidance document, available here.   There are no real surprises; it’s a compendium of common denominators that we’ve been hearing about  for months from all corners of the industry but tweaked specifically for aviation.  There are a few pages of introductory  material on risk mitigation; a 15-page first module that applies specifically to airports, including the  terminal building, check-in, screening, airside, terminal gates, arrivals, baggage claim, and landside, and followed by similarly detailed procedural modules for aircraft, crew and cargo.  There are a few worksheets to determine CV-19 status, to perform airport and aircraft disinfection, and ideas for staff reminder posters.

The good news is that there is relative agreement among the major players – ICAO, IATA and ACI – although  some differences remain among the recommendations, such as for 1, 1 ½  or 2 meters for personal distancing, depending on who you’re listening to in any given country. Current terminals may not have the interior floor space for the AM / PM pushes.  Businesses have discovered that Zoom meetings can save a lot of time and money and working from home can save a lot of office overhead. .  Concessions will take a long time to come back, and most likely look quite different than before.  Some experts have suggested that the “new normal” may be no more than 75% of what used to be

 I hesitate to call the alternative ‘bad news’ , especially given the highly compressed and fluctuating  interactive flow among travelers in any  international aviation environment.  But there is simply no possible way to unify the regulations, health, medical practices  and hygiene customs of a few hundred nations and cultures:  what’s the real definition of “clean” -especially when we’ve seen a significant percentage of tested persons are asymptomatic, but potential carriers anyway.  Who are the last 15 people the guy in the seat next you touched on his way from home into the terminal... did they all wash their hands?  How about that long zig/zag  queue at the ticket counter and the screening checkpoint... people on all four sides of you.  And yes, it’ll be the same at your 2 hour  plane-change in ORD, LHR, SFO  or ATL.

 ICAO  recommends more automation and touch-free equipment in airport bathrooms. Travelers may be required to use  electronic visa forms, drop off baggage off with a facial or iris scan and while DHS is currently asking industry for a way for US passengers to screen themselves (in my view a bizarre idea) they will still likely to be hand-searched in most foreign countries.  We’ll need to  coordinate efforts globally in order to avoid conflicting security regulations that have followed previous travel stoppages, most notably after 9/11.

The ICAO recommendations include:

• Staff and passengers wearing masks where available
• Contact-free technology at bag drops, boarding gates and retail outlets, and self-cleaning screens at check-in kiosks
• Regular cleaning of infrastructure and equipment
• One-meter distancing where possible throughout airports
• Revisions to boarding processes, gate areas and government regulations.
•  Changes to border-control and customs processes to increase physical distancing
• Dedicated baggage carousels for arrivals from high-risk areas

The A&E firms are already salivating over the likely changes in terminal  planning and design, and the second round when changes in security regulations require more changes that nobody can afford because of the decline in revenues.  This is the big one, folks, so buckle up – it could get ugly.