The CEO of an Australian airline said he thinks “governments will insist” on vaccines for international travelers “as a condition of entry”.
Alan Joyce of Qantas Airways Limited told the BBC that he thinks “as soon as everyone is vaccinated”, governments will demand that international travelers be vaccinated if they want to enter a country. He said they would no longer be allowed to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days as a way of entering.
Even if some countries decide against this policy, Joyce said that he thinks airlines should apply their own guidelines, because of their “duty of care”.
“We have a duty to look after our passengers and our crew, to say that everyone on this aircraft needs to be safe,” said Joyce.
Joyce thinks that passengers would support this change. He said that 90 percent of the people he interviewed think it is a “great idea”.
“The vast majority of our customers think this is a great idea – 90 percent of the people we interviewed think it should be a requirement for people to be vaccinated to travel abroad,” said Joyce.
The World Health Organization, however, does not agree with this proposal. Bernardo Mariano, the organization’s director of health and digital innovation, overturned the initiative, telling the BBC “We do not approve of the fact that a vaccination passport is a condition for travel”.
He added that, regardless of what the public sector is in favor of, such a change would require a “unified government approach”, wrote the BBC.
The Hill contacted the Centers for Disease Control for comment.
The airline industry was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, the Airports Council International – North America released a report that concluded that US airports need $ 115.4 billion in infrastructure investments over the next five years to meet critical needs, including improving the customer experience. air passenger, increase convenience, increase safety, expand competition and lower prices for travelers.
The industry, however, has had a partial recovery in recent weeks. On Thursday, the Transportation Security Administration reported that more than 1.4 million people traveled through US airports on Wednesday, marking the eighth consecutive day that the volume of travel exceeded 1 million.
The last time that airport activity was so high was in the week of March 15, 2020, when more than 1.5 million people passed TSA control points before the establishment of blockades and recommendations against air travel.