After the recommendation of the Commission for coordinated travel restrictions among the Member States (agreement based on the Commission’s proposal, through which they will implement common criteria on travel across the block amid the pandemic), was adopted by the Europen Union (EU) Council, Europe’s most important aviation bodies have reacted to it, calling it a failure and insufficient to revive travel within the block.
ACI EUROPE, Airlines for Europe (A4E) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), have warned on the inadequacies, branded it a failure and issued a warning that the approach fails to encourage the restart of travel through effective coordination and non-discriminatory measures.
A press release issued by IATA says: “Aviation bodies have strongly pushed for a common pre-departure COVID-19 testing framework to replace quarantines for passengers travelling from high-risk areas, to re-establish freedom of movement in Europe.”
The same aviation bodies assert that the current lack of coordination between the Member States has endangered the recovery of travel and tourism in the European Union, thus putting millions of jobs at risk.
IATA in its press release identifies the main problems of the approach, starting out with the failure of the Council to replace quarantine with testing, for which it has called on the EU for months now, to implement into the COVID-19 restrictions, as quarantine, it claims, is not effective and discourages travelling.
IATA, A4E and ACI EUROPE also condemned the Council for leaving the Member States with the opportunity to refuse entry to citizens travelling from the other Member States.
It also emphasises the fact that the Council published the information on new measures in just 24 hours before they entered into force, which contradicts the five days that was proposed by the Commission.
“These shortcomings are a political failure. The inability of the Council to go beyond shallow coordination and establish a truly harmonised and workable framework is now beyond any doubt,” the press release stated.
Today’s approach adopted by the EU Council includes a common colour-coded map broken down by region as well as a common framework for possible measures for travellers, including rules for testing, quarantine, and passenger locator forms.
The aviation bodies call on the EU to act fast to defend the right to freedom of movement of European citizens and protect the millions of jobs in the transport and tourism sectors.
IATA and other aviation bodies have continuously urged the EU and its Member States to reopen their borders to help the economic sector to recover from the financial crisis caused by the pandemic.
The same has only recently noted that the incidence of contracting the virus while onboard is very low, as statistics show that there were only 44 identified potential cases of flight-related transmission among 1.2 billion travellers, which is one case for every 27 million travellers.
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