As the Middle East opens up its borders, the international aviation body representing global airlines, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has stressed the necessity for strict safety measures.
Closely following its grim alert that global air travel would not return to pre-COVID-19 rates until 2024, IATA urged governments in the Middle East to enforce standard biosafety measures for passengers as aviation restarts.
Forecasting a gloomier global aviation outlook, Iata had earlier said that worldwide passenger traffic dropped by 86.5% in June 2020 compared to last year’s same period. It contrasts with a contraction of 91% in May.
The global airline body has estimated that Middle East carriers will lose $24 billion in passenger revenue this year, up from an earlier estimate of $19 billion, while the regional carriers’ total losses this year were expected to be $4.8 billion. This year, the aviation industry around the globe will lose $84.3 billion as earnings plunge 50% down to $419 billion, it said.
The Middle East could see 1.2 million job losses in aviation and related sectors while, according to the IATA, the contribution of aviation to the region’s GDP could decline to $66 billion from $130 billion.
The body said the International Civil Aviation Organization has decided on a global structure for restarting the aviation while maintaining public safety.
“An effective COVID-19 test has the potential to be a useful risk mitigation measure. However, tests that neither meets the criteria of speed, scalability and reliability nor are offered at a reasonable cost, as we are seeing in some countries in the region, have unintended consequences, causing more problems than they solve and will most likely limit the recovery in air travel demand,” said Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.
A range of Middle East countries are carrying out testing but in many cases, they do not follow the standards set by the IATA. Furthermore, there is uncertainty among passengers due to the differences in testing criteria between countries, along with the differential cost. In some cases both a test of departure and arrival is required, sometimes costing more than $150.
Mr. Albakri said enforcing quarantine measures on incoming travelers would continue to keep countries in lockdown and urged governments to avoid quarantine measures when reopening their economies.
Alternatively, IATA promotes a layered approach of measures to reduce the risk of countries importing COVID-19 via air travel and to mitigate transmission possibilities in cases where people may travel while being unknowingly infected
