The airline industry’s global lobby group condemned national moves to introduce Covid tests and other measures for arrivals from China as travel from the Asia nation resumes despite a flareup in the virus.
(Bloomberg) — The airline industry’s global lobby group condemned national moves to introduce Covid tests and other measures for arrivals from China as travel from the Asia nation resumes despite a flareup in the virus.
The measures represent a knee-jerk reinstatement of steps that have proven ineffective in stemming the pandemic over the past three years, the International Air Transport Association said in a statement Wednesday.
IATA Director General Willie Walsh said travel restrictions have been shown to delay the peak of new waves of coronavirus by only a few days, rather than halting them, while at the same time strangling off international connectivity, damaging economies and destroying jobs.
“Governments must base their decisions on science facts rather than science politics,” Walsh said.
Numerous nations have announced new rules for people arriving from China, with the US, France, Spain, Britain and Australia among those that will require pre-departure tests to ensure people don’t fly while infected.
The European Union is moving toward measures that may also include masks and increased wastewater monitoring as it seeks to broker a joint approach among member states.
Several governments, including the UK, are also introducing checks for passenger on touchdown at airports.
London Heathrow said that the Covid tests, which begin Thursday, will be performed by Health Security Agency officials. With relevant Covid travel legislation having lapsed, however, the checks will be voluntary and there are no powers for people to be forced to quarantine or even self isolate should they produce a positive result, according to a spokesman.
While the unexpectedly rapid reopening of China even as the Omicron variant of Covid continues to rage there could herald a stronger-than-forecast revival of Asian and long-haul flying, border curbs have been shown to be a major drag on bookings.
Heathrow said that shoudn’t be the case this time, given that checks are non-mandatory and China not having imposed rules barring infected nationals from returning. Still, the airport urged Britain to drop its measures as soon as it’s deemed safe to do so.
Some airlines are also responding. Dutch carrier KLM is taking extra measures to protect staff on flights to and from China, providing more FFP2-masks on board for crew and passengers and a separate lavatory reserved for staff.
IATA, whose members account for 83% of global air traffic, hadn’t anticipated Beijing relaxing its closed-door policy until the second half of 2023, and on that basis predicted that only North American airlines would register significant profits this year, with other regions losing money or eking out small gains.
(Updates with Heathrow comments from seventh paragraph)
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