Airports Council International (ACI) World has published new guidance for airports to help them prepare for restart and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on their operations.
As the trajectory of recovery has been affected by new variants of Covid-19 and the new restrictions introduced by governments in response, the second edition of ACI World’s Aviation Operations during Covid-19 – Business Restart and Recovery, provides updated best practice examples and guidance for both initial restart and longer-term recovery.
ACI has not only updated its guidance on the practical and efficient health and operational measures that can be introduced to support safe travel, but also included new information on the provision of Covid-19 testing facilities at airports and supporting the distribution of vaccines.
“The priority for airports has always been to protect the health and welfare of travelers, staff and the public as it has navigated the Covid-19 crisis,” said ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira. “While there have been faltering steps toward a restart of air travel, it will be a long haul and our new guidance issued today takes account of this changing situation for airports and will help them to lay the foundation for a long-term and sustained recovery.”
According to ACI’s World Airport Traffic Forecasts, recovery is likely to be uneven across the world – markets with significant domestic traffic are not expected to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels before 2023 and markets with a significant share of international traffic will recover much more slowly.
“Recovery will only be possible, however, if governments can get behind aviation with policy support and assistance to pursue a coordinated and risk-based approach to combining testing and vaccination to promote travel when the epidemiological situation allows,” de Oliveira continued.