The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged Asia-Pacific countries on Tuesday to further ease border restrictions to accelerate the region’s recovery from the global pandemic and its repercussions.
“Asia-Pacific is catching up on restarting travel after COVID-19, but there is growing momentum with governments lifting many travel restrictions. The demand for people to travel is clear. As soon as measures are relaxed there is an immediate positive reaction from travellers,” IATA’s Director-General, Willie Walsh said at the Changi Aviation Summit, stressing that all industry stakeholders, including governments, must be well-prepared for the restart.
“We cannot delay, Jobs are at stake and people want to travel.”
IATA Director-General, Willie Walsh
Steady growth
The region’s international passenger demand in March grew to 17% of pre-pandemic levels after remaining below 10% over the last two years, according to IATA.
“This is far below the global trend where markets have recovered to 60% of pre-crisis levels. The lag is because of government restrictions,” Walsh noted, adding that the sooner restrictions are lifted, the sooner the region’s travel and tourism sectors will recover, and bring further economic benefits.
Furthermore, Walsh called on governments to further ease restrictions and bring normalcy to air travel by lifting all mandates for vaccinated travellers; removing quarantine and COVID-19 testing requirements for unvaccinated travellers in destinations with high levels of population immunity, including most Asian countries and lifting the face mask mandate for air travel when it is no longer required in other indoor environments and on public transport.
He further underlined the importance of collaboration between the industry, governments, airlines and airports to drive recovery and bring back flights by facilitating security clearances and other documentation processes for key personnel.
Major gaps
According to Walsh, the Asia-Pacific market features two major gaps, China and Japan. China’s zero-tolerance policy to curb the virus’ spread is delaying the country’s border reopening and hampering the region’s full recovery.
On the other hand, while Japan has taken major steps to allow air travel, the country has not announced plans to reopen its borders for visitors and tourists. Lifting quarantine for all vaccinated travellers and removing on-arrival airport testing and daily arrival limit mandates will further support the region’s aviation sector recovery, Walsh revealed, urging the government of Japan to take “bolder steps towards recovery and opening of the country’s borders.”
Sustainability efforts
In his keynote, Walsh also called on governments to support the industry’s sustainability efforts.
“Airlines have committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. A key to our success will be governments sharing the same vision. There are high expectations for governments to agree on a long-term goal at the ICAO Assembly later this year,” he stated, emphasising that “achieving net-zero requires everyone to shoulder their responsibility.”
He pointed out that governments should incentivise the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). “Airlines have bought every drop of SAF that is available. Projects are underway that will see a rapid increase in SAF production over the next years. We see SAF contributing to 65% of the mitigation needed to achieve net zero in 2050,” Walsh noted.
Walsh praised governmental efforts to support and launch sustainability initiatives, adding that Japan has committed considerable funds for green aviation initiatives. Meanwhile, New Zealand and Singapore have agreed to cooperate on green flights.
