A4A Applauds ICAO Recommendations for Restart and Recovery of Global Air Travel

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Airlines for America (A4A) – the industry trade organization representing the leading U.S. airlines – today applauded newly released recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency, for the safe, sustainable and secure restart and recovery of global air travel in the wake of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

“Take-off: Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis,” a report from ICAO’s Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART), was produced with input from more than a dozen different countries and numerous regional and international organizations. It provides a global framework for enabling the safe, phased return of domestic and international aviation.

Airlines connect the world, and we will reconnect the world as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. A4A applauds ICAO’s quick work to identify these measures to further enhance public health in the aviation sector. They build on the measures already put in place by U.S. and other airlines, and they will be an important part of the global recovery.

The report recommends risk-mitigation measures for all phases of passenger and cargo air travel, from arriving at the terminal to boarding the aircraft to leaving the baggage claim area. They include measures such as cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing, health screenings and more.

U.S. airlines have already implemented intensive cleaning protocols, including electrostatic cleaning and fogging procedures, and a host of procedures like back-to-front boarding and adjusting food and beverage services to help allow for distancing between people. As an additional layer of protection, A4A’s member airlines have encouraged the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to begin conducting temperature screenings.

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