Governments called upon to bear costs of public health measures

Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have urged for governments to bear the costs that are related to public health measures aimed at mitigating the spread of communicable diseases.

ICAO’s TakeOff guidance outlines a number of new measures for safeguarding public health, which are already being introduced by airports and airlines around the world.

To ensure their efficacy, these measures – which include health checks, sanitisation and social distancing – will require implementation by the appropriate national authorities. ACI and IATA believe that existing roles and responsibilities of governments, airlines, airports and other operational stakeholders should be respected in implementing the response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

There is a recognition that a patchwork of different frameworks risks confusing travellers and introducing unnecessary additional compliance costs on passengers, airports and airlines. Indeed, the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations require governments to pay the costs of health measures.

“As airport and airline operations begin to slowly recover, the health and safety of passengers and staff is paramount and many new health measures are being considered by governments for implantation at airports,” ACI World General Director, Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “As the industry navigates the complexities of restarting operations, ACI believes the cost of any health measures that are required should be borne by governments. ACI and IATA are aligned on this issue, as set out in the Safely Restarting Aviation — ACI and IATA Joint Approach which was our input to ICAO’s TakeOff guidance. This laid out that public funding of health measures should be ensured, including but not limited to, infrastructure or operational changes required.”

IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said: “The aviation industry wants to get the world moving again. We have successfully worked with ICAO and many governments worldwide to put in place standardised protocols that safeguard public health and give travellers the confidence to return to the skies. But the industry is still on the edge of a financial precipice. The extra costs of health measures mandated by governments must – as the WHO recommends – be borne by governments. That will enable the industry to focus scarce resources on reconnecting the world and boosting economic recovery.”