This week I’ve noted a steady trickle of emails from airlines suggesting destinations I might like to fly to and informing me of their plans to make sure that I, as a passenger, feel safe in their care – on the ground and in the air.
Aside from the UK’s frustrating new quarantine measures, confirmed this week by Home Secretary Priti Patel, the restart and recovery of aviation is clearly underway. And with an increasing number of airports either already ramping up their commercial operations or looking to reopen later this month, the focus is on how to restart services while maintaining the confidence and well-being of staff and travellers.
Following the release of Airports Council International (ACI) World’s business restart and recovery guidelines for the airport industry last week, the association’s Director General, Angela Gittens, said: “For airports, the focus is to protect the health and welfare of travellers, staff, and the public, to minimise the opportunities for dissemination of disease while maintaining efficient operations.”
She added that, “collaboration, co-operation and consistency are key, first for the industry to successfully restart, and then for sustaining a balanced recovery.”
This week, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART), of which ACI is a member, echoed the need to work as one aviation system. CART has also released a report providing global guidance for aviation sector recovery. Although it speaks primarily to larger airports and scheduled air transport, the report also underlines the need to support the industry’s rebound across the board in a safe, secure and sustainable way.
Alongside detailed situational analysis, the CART report offers a series of recommendations focused around objectives for public health, aviation safety and security, and aviation economic recovery.
As mentioned last week, we are already seeing strong indications that the initial rebound will be most prominent within the domestic, regional and business aviation sectors, but it’s good to see that long-haul services are also slowly picking up with hubs such as Munich Airport (pictured) reintroducing a limited number of transatlantic routes.
The situation is changing daily and it’s right to proceed with caution, but I’ve got my mask at the ready and remain optimistic that, with my family alongside, I’ll be flying from my local airport in August.
Have a safe weekend,
Chloë Greenbank, Regional Gateway Editor.
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