Taking your temperature on arrival at the airport, wearing a mask on board the plane… In order for air traffic to resume safely, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) publishes a guide of recommendations sanitary facilities for airlines.
The world is gradually unraveling. As more and more countries reopen their borders to tourists, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) publishes a guide of health recommendations for airlines to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Spotted by AFP, the report first recommends that passengers present a health declaration upon arrival at the airport and that they have their temperature taken.
Other proposals: favor online check-in as well as boarding passes on smartphones, travel as light as possible, and limit access to the terminal to travelers and staff. If duty-free sales are to be limited, wearing a mask or face covering should be made compulsory inside the terminal.
Move as little as possible on the plane
Once on board the plane, newspapers and magazines will no longer be welcome, while passengers should move around as little as possible, keep their masks on and avoid queues in front of the toilets. The ICAO even recommends that travelers be allocated a toilet cabin according to their place in the aircraft. Food on board should be pre-packaged and the aircraft disinfected regularly.
Contrary to all expectations, it is not recommended to decommission one out of two seats so that physical distance is respected. In question: the loss of earnings for the airlines. Indeed, even if the planes were full, the International Civil Aviation Organization estimates that they could lose more than $314 billion by the end of the year. According to her, the number of passengers is expected to decrease by 1.5 billion due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“An authority that will be a world reference”
The ICAO recommendations have been the subject of a broad consensus which will give them “an authority that will be a global reference, for the first time on this subject since the Covid-19 crisis”, according to Philippe Bertoux, representative of France on the council of the ICAO, questioned by AFP. The drafting of the report is the result of collaboration between many institutions, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
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