The world’s governments must unite and collaborate to ensure COVID-19 measures for airlines and airports are globally consistent and supported by science say ACI and IATA as the associations urge a layered approach across the passenger journey to minimize the risk of virus transmission.
In a paper released this week, Safely Restarting Aviation – ACI and IATA Joint Approach, the pair also say measures need to be subject to quick review, improvement and removal when measures are no longer required. ACI and IATA are key members of the COVID-19 Aviation Recovery Task Force led by the council of the ICAO.
Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World, said the aviation industry has come together to address the challenges caused by COVID-19: “There is currently no single measure that could mitigate all the risks of restarting air travel, but we believe a globally-consistent, outcome-based approach represents the most effective way of balancing risk mitigation with the need to unlock economies and to enable travel.”
Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of IATA added, “Our layered approach of measures recommended by airports and airlines safeguard public health while offering a practical approach for a gradual restart of operations. It is important to remember that the risk of transmission on board is very low. And we are determined that aviation will not be a significant source of re-infection.”
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines has announced that it is installing plexiglass safety barriers at its airport check-in lobbies, departure gates and Delta Sky Club counters. The barriers were designed and manufactured by its subsidiary, Delta Flight Products.
Working with airport customer service teams to test installation at Delta’s Atlanta airport hub, 150 barriers are being produced a day.
Delta is also increasing cleaning standards by electrostatic sanitizing spraying all aircraft and using air circulation systems with HEPA filters to extract 99.99% of particles.
Customers and employees are being given more space on the ground and in flight by blocking middle seats, reducing the number of customers per flight, and pausing automatic Medallion Complimentary Upgrades.