America Airlines – US airways ask DOT to guide world Covid-19 testing programme for travellers | Information

The US airline sector is urging the Division of Transportation (DOT) to guide the creation of world Covid-19 testing requirements for worldwide travellers.

As well as, the group needs the division to create a globally accepted “health pass programme”.

Commerce group Airlines for America (A4A), which represents main US carriers, outlined that imaginative and prescient in an 18 January letter to Pete Buttigieg, who President Joe Biden has nominated to develop into Secretary of State for Transportation.

A4A’s letter notes that US airways stay on shaky floor, with passenger numbers down 60% and the sector burning about $150 million every day.

To climate the storm, US airways took on an estimated $67 billion in debt final 12 months, which would require curiosity funds of about $5 billion yearly for a number of years, greater than double earlier ranges.

“This remains a very dire situation for our industry,” says A4A’s letter. “We cannot sustain our businesses as they exist with this kind of passenger capacity.”

A4A says Covid-19 testing necessities can assist journey rebound, and that the US authorities is greatest located to guide such an effort.

“There may be widespread settlement within the aviation and journey industries that applicable Covid-19 testing protocols can allow the reopening of worldwide journey markets,” the group says.

Because of the complexities of such an effort, “we call on the US government to work on a bilateral and multilateral basis to establish a globally accepted framework for testing protocols for international travel.”

The group additionally needs the USA to create a “health pass programme” that will clearly establish travellers who’ve met testing necessities. The programme will need to have the power to validate the legitimacy of Covid-19 exams and to accommodate multi-leg and worldwide itineraries, A4A says.

As of 26 January, the US authorities would require that inbound worldwide air travellers current a damaging Covid-19 check that’s lower than 72h previous.