The airlines and airports in Latin America and the Caribbean are calling on governments across the region to better align their responses to the COVID-19 crisis, in order to avoid any further delay in the resumption of air transport across the continent. This includes minimizing quarantine requirements for travelers, allowing for an economic recovery of the aviation and tourism value-chain. This would also provide peace of mind to travelers and restore mobility to citizens who want to travel for varying reasons.
Over the last months the air transport industry has created multi-layered biosafety protocols and standards in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. These were developed in extensive consultations with countries, regional organizations, the World Health Organization (WHO) and key industry groups, ultimately having been adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and published in: 'Takeoff: A Guide to Air Travel in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis'.
This guidance provides a framework for addressing the impact of the pandemic on the global air transport system aimed at restarting travel in a safe and sustainable manner. It also sets out mitigation measures that should be implemented to reduce the public health risk to aviation passengers and workers.
The economic impact of the current crisis has been devastating on the countries across the region. Restoring public confidence in air travel not will not only help the viability of aviation, a sector that has been grounded for more than five months but will also provide a broader positive socio-economic impulse.
ACI-LAC, ALTA and IATA, the organizations representing airports and airlines in our region, have developed ICAO endorsed protocols, which lay out the correct implementation of the biosafety measures throughout the industry. We now need governments to do their part in quickly implementing these recommendations because the world wants to travel again and needs the air transport industry to play a key role in economic recovery. This sector is ready to restart, but we need governments to provide the necessary clear and aligned framework which will enable us to do so.
