Summary
- ICAO said airlines must ensure social distance of at least one metre between passengers, besides mandatory wearing of face masks by passengers and airline crew in line with directives by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- The agency in the report dubbed ‘Take-off: Guidance for Air Travel through the Covid-19 Public Health Crisis’ adds that all passengers must be tested before and after every flight , in addition to isolation for any passenger showing Covid-19 symptoms or indicating exposure to the virus.
UN agency, the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s
(ICAO) has released guidelines for flight operations as it seeks to
jump-start the sector ravaged by coronavirus pandemic.
ICAO
said airlines must ensure social distance of at least one metre between
passengers, besides mandatory wearing of face masks by passengers and
airline crew in line with directives by the World Health Organisation
(WHO).
The agency in the report dubbed ‘Take-off:
Guidance for Air Travel through the Covid-19 Public Health Crisis’ adds
that all passengers must be tested before and after every flight , in
addition to isolation for any passenger showing Covid-19 symptoms or
indicating exposure to the virus.
ICAO says health
declaration forms for Covid-19 should be used for all passengers, in
line with the recommendations of relevant health authorities. This is
besides use of internet-based platforms for contact tracing.
The
United Nations (UN) agency, in-charge of planning and development of
international air transport, adds that airlines should ensure passengers
do not board or alight in close proximity and that all areas within the
airlines and airports must be cleaned and disinfected based on
operational risk assessments.
The global aviation industry shut down in March to curb spread
of Covid-19 and now most of the airlines including Kenya Airways have
turned to the state for emergency funding.
“ICAO
recommends a phased approach to enable the safe return to high-volume
domestic and international air travel for passengers and cargo… The
approach introduces a core set of measures to form a baseline aviation
health safety protocol to protect air passengers and aviation workers
from Covid-19. These measures will enable the growth of global aviation
as it recovers from the current pandemic,” ICAO said in the report
released on Monday.
ICAO projects that by the end of
2020, airlines will lose up to Sh33.284 trillion ($314 billion) while
airports will lose Sh10.6 trillion ($100 billion) underlining the
adverse effects of the restrictions imposed to curb spread of
coronavirus
The collapse of British carrier Flybe has
underlined the gravity of the pandemic on airlines. Experts have already
warned that other airlines may collapse by the end of the year unless
the sector picks up soon. The agency has also warned that international
traffic will fall by as high as 1.5 billion passengers by December as
airlines struggle to pick-up in the post-Covid-19 period.
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