The three major airline alliances have joined together to call on governments around the world to adopt a harmonised approach to passenger testing and digital health pass technology.
Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam – which together have 58 member airlines, representing over 60 per cent of world airline capacity and carrying over 1.87 billion passengers annually prior to the Covid-19 crisis – have come out in support of a report produced by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
“We welcome the publication of the updated CART report which, among other things, calls for the serious consideration of screening and testing as a means for easing travel and border restrictions, and reviving the travel and tourism industry and the global economy,” said Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey Goh.
“A robust protocol for testing will also provide further evidence to demonstrate that air travel is not a material cause for infections and will pave the way for a framework of trust to be established between countries.”
SkyTeam CEO Kristin Colvile said: “Testing regimes and trials of digital health passes have identified means to restoring confidence and reopening borders, complementing the layer upon layer of passenger safety measures already implemented by airlines and airports worldwide.
“Aviation supports millions of jobs around the world and drives international commerce, trade and tourism. Urgent action is needed to adopt testing and technology to mitigate Covid risks and safely and quickly revive international air travel.”
The alliances have also declared support for technical solutions that "provide a consistent, scalable and affordable way to declare passenger health data that is simple to implement as part of the customer journey, with processes initiated pre-travel to reduce passenger inconvenience at airports", such as the CommonPass digital health passport.
Oneworld CEO Rob Gurney said: “With extensive travel restrictions creating much uncertainty for customers, testing can play a role in enabling the safe restart of travel.
“Any solution used in declaring passenger health data should be consistent, scalable and cost effective – this will provide clarity and confidence to customers, airlines and other stakeholders as international travel resumes.”
Endorsing the new measures, ICAO council president Salvatore Sciacchitano, said: “Countries are urged to follow this updated guidance to align their measures, while upholding each state’s prerogative to implement additional and/or alternative mitigation measures in accordance with their specific needs and circumstances.”
He added: “The speed of the evolving global situation requires timely and targeted guidance to effectively support states in their efforts to contain the pandemic while pursuing the restart and recovery of aviation. This makes clear the critical importance of global and regional coordination on setting out mutually accepted measures.”