Etihad chief pushes for health visas to boost passenger confidence
Etihad’s CE has called for the introduction of health visas to certify passengers are safe to fly to help the airline industry recover from crisis. Tony Douglas said that universal international standards on testing passengers for Covid-19 could help travellers feel confident to return to the skies in greater numbers. “There has to be something now that regulates the way in which your wellness can be assured,” he said. He added that he had already engaged with the UK government and other countries on the possibility of some form of health certification for travellers, and that he thought the technology was “advancing quickly”. “If you get over the fact that the threat is not going to go away you then have to actively decide to mitigate the risk,” Douglas said, pointing to how quickly common standards for airport security have been adopted over the past 20 years. There is currently no coherent international co-ordination on Covid-19 testing at airports or universal quarantine requirements, leading to a patchwork of different requirements around the globe. Passengers flying to Abu Dhabi, Etihad’s hub, are already required to be tested before boarding their flight and again on arrival. Douglas said rolling out a similar system internationally would be preferable to the so-called air corridors employed by some countries, including the UK, which he dismissed as a “marketing exercise” given that they do not involve any health checks. Even as the industry reels from the disruption, Douglas said he thought environmental pressures were the bigger threat to aviation’s long-term future, and warned executives not to use the pandemic as an excuse to water down their targets for sustainability. Douglas believes there is a commercial imperative to the push towards a greener industry. “If you don’t, you will lose out in a business sense. The red-blooded capitalist would say you can’t not do it,” he said. “At the end of the day, those who don’t act in a responsible way, those who aren’t sustainable airlines, they probably won’t survive,” he added.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2020-09-08/eap/etihad-chief-pushes-for-health-visas-to-boost-passenger-confidence
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Etihad chief pushes for health visas to boost passenger confidence
Etihad’s CE has called for the introduction of health visas to certify passengers are safe to fly to help the airline industry recover from crisis. Tony Douglas said that universal international standards on testing passengers for Covid-19 could help travellers feel confident to return to the skies in greater numbers. “There has to be something now that regulates the way in which your wellness can be assured,” he said. He added that he had already engaged with the UK government and other countries on the possibility of some form of health certification for travellers, and that he thought the technology was “advancing quickly”. “If you get over the fact that the threat is not going to go away you then have to actively decide to mitigate the risk,” Douglas said, pointing to how quickly common standards for airport security have been adopted over the past 20 years. There is currently no coherent international co-ordination on Covid-19 testing at airports or universal quarantine requirements, leading to a patchwork of different requirements around the globe. Passengers flying to Abu Dhabi, Etihad’s hub, are already required to be tested before boarding their flight and again on arrival. Douglas said rolling out a similar system internationally would be preferable to the so-called air corridors employed by some countries, including the UK, which he dismissed as a “marketing exercise” given that they do not involve any health checks. Even as the industry reels from the disruption, Douglas said he thought environmental pressures were the bigger threat to aviation’s long-term future, and warned executives not to use the pandemic as an excuse to water down their targets for sustainability. Douglas believes there is a commercial imperative to the push towards a greener industry. “If you don’t, you will lose out in a business sense. The red-blooded capitalist would say you can’t not do it,” he said. “At the end of the day, those who don’t act in a responsible way, those who aren’t sustainable airlines, they probably won’t survive,” he added.<br/>
