The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sees as encouraging sign the fact that airport testing on departure is beginning to be allowed. The WTTC has been calling for a rapid and cost-effective testing on departure regime at airports around the world for several months now.
This is a step in the right direction
Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO.
Latest WTTC research seems to show the positive effect that airport testing could have to revive international air travel. “It could bring back jobs and resuscitate the global economy,” said Guevara. “Almost 20 million jobs across Europe could be saved, including three million in Germany, 1.93 million in the UK, 1.91 million in Italy and more than 1.5 million in France.”
The WTTC saw as a positive sign the introduction of schemes at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris, Heathrow in London and the recent trial which took place between Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and Milan Linate. It is the WTTC’s wish that other countries follow suit and implement similar initiatives.
Reducing quarantine times could restore vital international business travel, first on short-haul flights and then between important financial hubs, such as Frankfurt, London and New York and other key transatlantic services.
“It is more important than ever that we explore every practical avenue,” said Guevara. “With the commercial aviation sector hanging in the balance, we need to speed up airport testing through targeted pilots like these ones.”
The WTTC believes that to save the global Travel & Tourism sector, a standardized international testing protocol is needed. Full cooperation and coordination are deemed crucial to restore seamless travel and remove quarantines.
