by Jim Byers
Last updated: 4:46 PM ET, Wed November 11, 2020
Three major airline alliances are calling for passenger testing protocols and the adoption of digital health pass technology in order for air travel to safely resume.
The three global airline alliances, Star Alliance (which includes Air Canada), oneworld and SkyTeam say theyare in full support of the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) second-phase Council on Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) report released on November 10.
"Government-imposed travel and entry restrictions continue to significantly impact global travel demand. Meanwhile, COVID-19 testing has emerged as an important part of an end-to-end solution to enable the safe restart of international travel by potentially reducing the reliance on the blunt instrument of blanket quarantines," the groups said in a joint release.
"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."
On behalf of their 58 member airlines, representing over 60% of world airline capacity and carrying over 1.87 billion passengers annually prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the three alliances are calling for a harmonised approach to testing that will form the foundation of a trust framework, as recommended by the ICAO guidelines.
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 recent digital 'health pass' trials, such as Common Pass, are presenting a strong case for using digital technology to deliver harmonised standards in the validation and verification of accredited passenger health data. The alliances support 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," 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."
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