Source: ICAO Speaking  to the 8th Virtual Meeting of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Tourism Crisis Committee this week, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu acknowledged that the latest measures to confront the most recent waves of COVID-19 transmission are weighing heavily on global travel and tourism.   She emphasized that there were few signs of near-term relief ahead for travel and tourism markets, given that the world is still faced with limited supplies of vaccines, and insufficient data on the transmission of the virus by persons that have been vaccinated.   Dr. Liu underscored that ICAO is collaborating with States, partner agencies and industry on the global vaccine distribution challenge, and to develop further guidance applicable to [...]

Source: ICAO With its latest economic impact analysis of COVID-19 now completed, the UN agency for civil aviation has confirmed that international passenger traffic suffered a dramatic 60 per cent drop over 2020, bringing air travel totals back to 2003 levels. ICAO reports that as seat capacity fell by 50 per cent last year, passenger totals dropped by 60 per cent with just 1.8 billion passengers taking to the air during the first year of the pandemic, compared to 4.5 billion in 2019. Its numbers also point to airline financial losses of 370 billion dollars resulting from the COVID-19 impacts, with airports and air navigation services providers (ANSPs) losing a further 115 billion and 13 billion, respectively. The pandemic plunge [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu addressed the members of the Women in Aviation International’s India Chapter on 8 January 2021, providing introductory remarks to its virtual meeting on “Connecting the dots – Recovery for aviation, tourism and hospitality”.   The Secretary General’s comments focused mainly on the significant gender equality challenges still facing the air transport sector, and the opportunity to address current imbalances as the sector pivots and recovers from COVID-19.   “While it is becoming more common to see women in positions of power and prominence, in both the public and private sectors, we still remain under-represented in most professional, leadership, and decision-making categories,” Dr. Liu noted. “In the aviation sector more specifically, which is [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), Airports Council International Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), are jointly expressing their deep concerns about the new measures and restrictions imposed on air travel across Latin America and the Caribbean. In a call to governments they are asking for the implementation and adherence to internationally agreed measures which permit safe air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rolling back the progress made on restoring air connectivity in 2020 will have an adverse effect on the socio-economic recovery in the region, placing millions of jobs at risk. 2021 began as a promising and hopeful year with [...]