The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that international air travel should reopen for those who have been fully vaccinated. The organization has said that a system must be in place wherein hassle free travel can once again be normal for fully vaccinated travellers.
The IATA has also proposed testing and verification of passengers who have not been vaccinated, but this too should be done without increasing the set of restrictions that are already in place.
IATA Deputy Director General and Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific, Conrad Clifford, said in a statement, “Vaccination and testing have a role to play in the recovery of international travel. It is not an option to wait for vaccines to be widely available before reopening borders. The global vaccine roll-out is likely to take time.”
He also said that this is why it is important to test the passengers as an alternative for those who do not have access to vaccines, or those who were unable to get vaccinated for some reason. Clifford is of the opinion that it is not a good idea to maintain a zero case load approach. As currently some scientists are of the view that COVID 19 could become an endemic.
The IATA thinks that all decisions pertaining to reopening of their borders should be based on data driven information.
The Delta variant of the virus is a key concern for governments right now. But recent independent data modelling by Boeing and Airbus have shown that there is a low risk of covid for travel destinations that reopen without quarantine rules, but with other strategies.
