Source: IATA   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data revealing that the COVID-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on international connectivity, shaking up the rankings of the world's most connected cities. London, the world's number one most connected city in September 2019, has seen a 67% decline in connectivity. By September 2020, it had fallen to number eight. Shanghai is now the top ranked city for connectivity with the top four most connected cities all in China—Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu. New York (-66% fall in connectivity), Tokyo (-65%), Bangkok (-81%), Hong Kong (-81%) and Seoul (-69%) have all exited the top ten. The study reveals that cities with large numbers of domestic connections now dominate, showing [...]

Source: IATA   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced a revised outlook for airline industry performance in 2020 and 2021. Deep industry losses will continue into 2021, even though performance is expected to improve over the period of the forecast. A net loss of $118.5 billion is expected for 2020 (deeper than the $84.3 billion forecast in June). A net loss of $38.7 billion is expected in 2021 (deeper than the $15.8 billion forecast in June). Performance factors in 2021 will show improvements on 2020; and the second half of 2021 is expected to see improvements after a difficult 2021 first half. Aggressive cost-cutting is expected to combine with increased demand during 2021 (due to the re-opening of borders [...]

Source: ICAO Speaking to the leadership of the global airline and European aviation sectors today, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano stressed the importance of placing solidarity, innovation, and sustainability at the heart of States’ and operators’ recovery plans.   His remarks were delivered by videoconferencing to the 76th Annual General Meeting of IATA and the AeroDays2020 Berlin Aviation Summit.   “There is an onus upon us to have the vision to look beyond this downturn and maximize the opportunities afforded by it,” the President said. “We must learn the lessons this disease is teaching us, and make our global network more resilient to future pandemic threats.”   On the topic of sectoral solidarity, President Sciacchitano drew attention to the many [...]

Source: IATA   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that it is in the final development phase of the IATA Travel Pass, a digital health pass that will support the safe reopening of borders. Governments are beginning to use testing as a means of limiting the risks of COVID-19 importation when re-opening their borders to travelers without quarantine measures. IATA Travel Pass will manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travelers. IATA is calling for systematic COVID-19 testing of all international travelers and the information flow infrastructure needed to enable this must support: Governments with the means to verify the authenticity of tests and the identity of those presenting [...]

Source: IATA   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomes the publication of the Manual on Testing and Cross Border Risk Management Measures by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This document provides governments a risk-based assessment tool for using testing programs that could alleviate quarantine requirements. It is a critical output produced by the ICAO Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA). CAPSCA brings together the expertise of states, public health authorities (World Health Organization/WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) and industry experts (IATA, Airports Council International, International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations). This encouraging progress follows recent comments from the WHO’s [...]

Source: ICAO The ICAO Council endorsed new updates yesterday to its Aviation Recovery Task Force’s (CART’s) ‘Take-off’ Guidelines for international air transport.   The new guidelines provide recommendations for countries to consider adopting per their current local medical status, and on specific priorities including general hygiene, masks and face coverings, health screening and declarations, air passengers with reduced mobility, and the mental health and well-being of aviation workers and passengers.   They also reacknowledge the sovereignty and authority of each country over its national pandemic recovery priorities, including with respect to the evaluation and use of passenger testing to help alleviate quarantine measures and reconnect destinations globally.   “Countries are urged to follow this updated guidance to align their measures, [...]

Source: Airports Council International (ACI) World   Further global push for testing to replace quarantine needed Airports Council International (ACI) World has today welcomed the updated guidance for states in addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air travel, published by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As parts of the global aviation ecosystem continue to make small steps towards recovery, global consistency remains the key to a sustained and effective restart of operations. Airports, airlines, governments and regulators have looked to ICAO to provide consistent guidance needed to underpin globally-harmonized measures that will increase public confidence in air travel and support continued safe operations. The second edition of the "Take-off" Guidance Document published by ICAO's Council Aviation Recovery [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO and the International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR) formalized a new agreement  aimed at accelerating and improving the effective assessment of new aviation technologies and innovations.   The agreement establishes two new ICAO-IFAR Expert Groups which will review latest innovations in the areas of urban air mobility and AI in aviation. After their first year, each group will report back to ICAO and IFAR and the two organizations will use the findings to optimize and formalize IFAR’s future contributions to ICAO and international aviation.   “This new collaboration will see IFAR’s community supporting ICAO’s activities by sharing its consensus view on current areas of technical challenge and opportunity, and in turn, ICAO will augment its ability to [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO Council States today urged the Islamic Republic of Iran to expedite the accident investigation into the tragic downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on 8 January of this year. Diplomats from the 36 countries expressed their support for the calls on Iran subsequent to the latest report on the topic from ICAO Council President, Salvatore Sciacchitano, and a related intervention from Canada’s Minister of Transport, Marc Garneau. “We have had several exchanges with the Iranian CAA in which we urged its authorities to expedite the accident investigation in accordance with ICAO Annex 13 provisions,” Sciacchitano advised the Council State diplomats. Annex 13 encourages an accident’s final report to be issued within 12 months of the accident [...]