Asia needs to resume air travel faster, says airline group head

Asian governments are moving too slowly to reopen borders to international travel, the chief of a regional aviation group said, saying states were failing to capitalize on their success in curbing the spread of the new coronavirus. Subhas Menon, DG of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said it was "ironical" that Europe was further along than Asia in trying to reconnect countries, despite the former having suffered far more illnesses and deaths from the contagion. Governments in Asia need to move faster to restore travel links to regain consumer confidence, said Menon. The aviation industry has been thrust into crisis by the pandemic, with most airlines staring into a financial abyss after fleets were grounded and travel bans imposed. "Unfortunately, in Asia-Pacific I find governments are reluctant to open up rules to allow [international] travelers," said Menon. "Asia-Pacific was the first to confront the virus. So logically speaking, Asia-Pacific should be the one to first recover. But instead it is Europe that is doing it ... which is very ironical if you look at any country in Asia-Pacific [which now has] no or very few cases of coronavirus."<br/>