GESNAER will implement the first remote control tower in Spain at Menorca airport   Source: ACI-LAC   AENA has awarded the contract for the "Supply in operation and validation of equipment for the implementation of ATS services provided by Remote Tower - RTM Menorca" to Gesnaer.   For the complete implementation of the Remote Tower System (RTS), GESNAER will collaborate with the Norwegian companies KONGSBERG and AVINOR. These companies are experts in the implementation of remote towers, with REMOTE TOWER SYSTEM (RTS) certified by the Norwegian Aeronautical Authority, and are currently developing the world's largest Remote Control Center in Bodo, Norway.   According to Milagros Jiménez and Juan Manuel Pérez, founders of Gesnaer, this is a historic milestone that will [...]

New Airport Service Quality award introduced in response to COVID-19 Voice of the Customer recognition also established Source: ACI Airports Council International (ACI) World has today announced changes to its world-renowned Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards to reflect the changing landscape in customer experience introduced in response to COVID-19. The impact and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought the global airport industry to a standstill with an estimated reduction in passenger traffic of 5.6 billion by year's end. As airports begin to restart operations, understanding the changing needs and expectations of passengers will be crucial in reassuring them that their health and safety remain the top priority. The pandemic's effects vary significantly between regions therefore ACI has adapted its [...]

ICAO Council President calls for innovation and solidarity at ATN Summer Aviation Forum   Source: ICAO   Stressing that we are living through an important turning point for aviation today, the Council President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Mr. Salvatore Sciacchitano, told the gathered aviation leaders at the Air Transport News (ATN) 2020 Summer Aviation Forum in Athens, Greece, today that innovation and continued partnership will be critical to aviation’s greener and more sustainable recovery from COVID-19. “COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on local and global air connectivity, and on the many countries and operators who made that connectivity possible,” Mr. Sciacchitano commented. “It has also tragically impacted the lives of the hundreds of millions of economically vulnerable men [...]

ACI-LAC urges governments to replace quarantine requirements with testing and contact tracing protocols   Source: ACI-LAC   Airports Council International Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) is urging governments to replace quarantine requirements with testing and contact tracing protocols to ensure the sector’s survival amid a worsening situation for airports in Latin America and the Caribbean. The latest preliminary forecast figures show that the region will lose 61% passenger volume by the end of 2020.   Prior to the pandemic, the Region´s airports were set to host approximately 700 million passengers in 2020. The full year estimate amounts to 271 million passengers, a reduction of around 430 million passengers, compared to the pre-COVID-19, business-as-usual scenario. Airport revenues, a direct reflection [...]

New Check & Fly app provides airport health measures to passengers ACI World has developed the app in partnership with members Airports Council International (ACI) World has today launched a new smart phone app which provides passengers with information about the health measures in place at individual airports around the world. As travel restrictions are gradually lifted, many new health-related measures have been implemented at airports in response to COVID-19. The Check & Fly app provides a way for airports to communicate to passengers directly as to what to expect when they plan to travel, helping them to meet any requirements, and making their journeys smoother and more efficient. The app complements ACI's Airport Health Accreditation Programme which provides an assessment [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomes the announcement by Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez to reopen 15 airports in September, including Bogota. This is an important step for the necessary restart of aviation in the country. "Air transport is an essential public service that people need for different reasons, such as work, health, family or leisure purposes. Aviation’s prospect to restart is good news which will allow for the resuming of mobility and integration of the country. With this decision, the sector and its extensive value chain, which includes tourism and commerce in Colombia, can begin to rebuild. While this is the first step towards a total reopening, we call on the government to continue the open [...]

Source: ICAO The implementation of globally harmonized recommendations developed by the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART) took a step forward this week through the launch of supporting initiatives for airlines and airports by IATA and ACI, respectively. IATA has launched a checklist that aims to support airlines who want to implement the ICAO CART guidelines through self-assessments, while ACI has launched its “Airport Health Accreditation programme,” which assesses airports’ health measures and procedures against the CART recommendations. Both initiatives have been officially supported by ICAO. Developed in cooperation with the WHO, the CART recommendations provide wide-ranging recommendations to States and industry stakeholders and are underpinning the coordinated and safe re-opening of commercial air services. The implementation of “Public Health [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released an updated global passenger forecast showing that the recovery in traffic has been slower than had been expected.         In the base case scenario: Global passenger traffic (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) will not return to pre-COVID-19 levels until 2024, a year later than previously projected. The recovery in short haul travel is still expected to happen faster than for long haul travel. As a result, passenger numbers will recover faster than traffic measured in RPKs. Recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels, however, will also slide by a year from 2022 to 2023. For 2020, global passenger numbers (enplanements) are expected to decline by 55% compared to 2019, worsened from [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO began the global roll-out of a civil aviation recovery Global Implementation Roadmap (GIR) today, providing an important enabling framework for countries as they begin to apply the COVID-19 pandemic restart and recovery measures in the ICAO Council’s Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations and annexed ‘Take-off’’ guidance document.   The UN specialized agency for civil aviation began conducting a series of GIR preview webinars this week with Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCAs) from all world regions, explaining its priorities and describing the important monitoring and reporting platform, and ‘Implementation Packages’ (iPack) resources, which ICAO has established to support it.   In addressing the DGCAs from Africa, the Americas, and the North Atlantic and Europe during three [...]

Source: ICAO In accordance with the recommendations of the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce, together ICAO Global Aviation Training (GAT) and CAA International (CAAi), the aviation training arm of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, have launched new training to enable the safe and secure restart of air operations.   Delivered in a virtual classroom by ICAO and UK CAA subject matter experts, the course will provide best practice advice to help regulators and air operators navigate oversight, compliance, training and operational challenges during the recovery period of COVID-19.   "Across the industry, aviation training will be essential to ensure professionals have the ability to navigate and manage the complex and dynamic compliance and operational challenges during the recovery period of [...]