ACI receives ICAO support for Airport Health Accreditation programme

ACI World has welcomed ICAO’s support in regard to the newly launched Airport Health Accreditation programme.

Airports are introducing new health measures and procedures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and ACI’s new programme provides an assessment of these measures in accordance with ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations and in alignment with the joint EASA and ECDC Aviation Health Safety Protocol and ACI EUROPE’s Guidelines for a Healthy Passenger Experience at Airports.

“Air travel is a key driver for a global economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ICAO’s support for our accreditation programme will provide immeasurable assistance in promoting the harmonisation of health measures being introduced around the world to facilitate the restart of aviation,” ACI World Director General, Luis Felipe de Oliveira said.

“Our new programme enables airports to demonstrate to passengers, staff, regulators and governments that they are prioritising health and safety in a measurable, established manner while also validating their own measures and processes. Consistency will be the key to a sustained recovery and the ICAO guidelines lay the framework for a globally-coordinated approach which will foster public confidence in aviation.”

ICAO Council President, Salvatore Sciacchitano, said: “A harmonised approach to health is key not only to the recovery of civil aviation but also to ‘building back better’, which is crucially important to ensuring the future resilience of the aviation network. ACI’s Airport Health Accreditation programme will be of importance in terms of providing a platform and momentum for the implementation of the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations, of which harmonisation and resilience are the guiding principles.”

The Airport Health Accreditation programme covers topics such as cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing (where feasible and practical), staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications and passenger facilities across all passenger areas and processes.

The programme is voluntary and open to all ACI member airports of all sizes in all regions. Istanbul Airport was the first airport in the world to be accredited through the programme.