In the face of the current unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world have issued various courses of action to mitigate the risk of contagion among the population. Among the measures implemented, quarantines stand out for their economic repercussions and border closures to other countries. The implementation of these measures has generated economic effects among the general population and large companies dedicated to transportation such as airlines. In view of the negative effects, these types of measures are highly questioned.
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The repercussions of restrictive measures on mobility
From affecting small vendors to the failure of large airlines, the measures that limit the mobility of economic activities have generated an economic recession worldwide. In the case at hand, the closing of borders has had an impact at different levels, not only airlines suffer the cessation of multiple operations, but airport personnel is also affected by the lack of demand for their activities, businesses located at the airports stop receiving profits due to the low or no traffic at the airports, aircraft maintenance companies lay off staff, aircraft, and air parts manufacturers also cut their payrolls and, as we have seen in IATA Warning for airline bankruptcy, mobility restrictions due to Covid-19 generate unsustainable expenses for passenger air transport companies.
The opinion of an expert
Alexandre de Juniac, general director of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has stated in his end-of-year message (2020) that government policies for the management of the pandemic in relation to borders have evolved very little, with badly coordinated closures and quarantines with no communication.
In his opinion, Alexandre de Juniac considers it unlikely that the fight against the pandemic has not evolved since it began. The IATA director has expressed that after several months of the pandemic we should have better policies to mitigate contagions in aeronautical operations, in his own words he says that we need: “a set of flexible and balanced policy tools to maintain borders open and control the risk to public health… These policies (speaking of the current border closures of various countries) are neither economically nor humanly sustainable ”. You can read more about aviation in the midst of the Covid-19 In-Flight crisis during and after the pandemic.
The frustration of IATA
IATA has communicated its frustration at the newly implemented border closures in various countries and has expressed that these measures will slow the recovery of commercial aviation, a discouraging aspect. IATA management has stated that the current management of the pandemic reflects the authorities’ lack of interest in a balanced approach to responding to the Covid-19 crisis.
What do you think of this topic? What measures can be better to avoid the risk of spreading the virus between countries?
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