Go to issuance of digital passports to people immune to Corona – Covid-19

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that it is developing a “digital passport” application to identify travelers who are immune or not infected with the emerging coronavirus.

This application will determine which travelers will be allowed to travel, as it will receive the results of the checks that the traveler performs, or it will receive a certificate of its obtaining Corona vaccines, according to the “Axios” website.

IATA, which comprises around 290 airlines, seeks to restore confidence in travel safety, as companies hope to survive the effects of the novel Corona pandemic, which has caused their revenues to drop by more than 60% in 2020.

Businesses rebounded after announcing vaccines that had proven effective in clinical trials, a year later the union described it as “the worst fiscal year” for the airline industry.

The sector’s revenues will reach $ 328 billion in 2020, up from $ 838 billion in 2019.

And IATA warned at its general meeting that companies would cut costs “by a billion dollars a day” in 2020, and that the sector “will continue to accumulate unprecedented losses,” according to Agence France- Hurry.

He expects the industry’s net losses in the current year to be around $ 119 billion, compared to previous estimates of $ 84 billion.
Businesses are also expected to record losses in 2021, which will hit $ 39 billion, and that’s also a higher number than expected in June, $ 16 billion, before the onset of the second wave. infections of the epidemic.

“This crisis is devastating and ruthless,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said in a statement.

“The borders should be reopened without imposing quarantine measures so that passengers can board the plane again. Businesses will have to use their cash at least until the fourth quarter of 2021, if there is no time. to loose.”

“In the long term, the widespread availability of vaccines will keep borders open, but the timing of vaccine availability is uncertain,” notes IATA.

Federation CFO Brian Pearce told a news conference that the vaccine discovery was “good news that makes us more confident,” predicting that air traffic will not return to normal until 2024.

After almost complete paralysis in April, air traffic slowly resumed in June, especially domestic flights, but has slowed again since September with the emergence of the second wave of infections and border closures and quarantine that accompany it.

Businesses received $ 160 billion in aid in 2020 to tackle the crisis, but they are demanding a second aid package, estimated at between $ 70 billion and $ 80 billion.

In order to revive air traffic, IATA has been calling for months to circulate corona detection tests that will be carried out for all international passengers.

Test centers for Covid-19 have been set up in a large number of airports, allowing passengers to perform antigenic or viral tests “RT-PSCR”, more reliable than the first tests, but their results require more time to be issued, depending on the requirements of the destination countries.

According to a study conducted by the organization, if the tests were disseminated when passengers departed, the risk of an injured passenger boarding the plane would be 0.06%, or 12 undiscovered injuries out of 20,000 arriving passengers. , according to Al Hurra Channel.

In its forecasts, IATA relies on the circulation of a vaccine in the summer of 2021, to resume flights at the international level.

Australian airline “Qantas” has announced that it will require international travelers to receive the Covid-19 vaccine before traveling on its airlines, making it the first major airline to adopt the measure.