Iata has urged Africa and Middle East governments to lift tourism-damaging quarantines in favour of risk-managed strategies that will allow economies to re-start while avoiding the spread of COVID-19.

Quarantine on arrival is most common in Africa and the Middle East,

effectively continuing to lockdown air travel in a region where 8.6m people depend on the aviation sector for their livelihoods, Iata’s Regional VP, Muhammad Albakri, told an online media briefing on Thursday (July 2). He said 36 countries in the region had imposed quarantine on arrival, accounting for 40% of all quarantine measures globally, but more than 80% of travellers were unwilling to travel when quarantine was required. “Opening a border means nothing if there is a quarantine involved. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for governments to understand this as they look to protect their citizens while reopening their economies,” he said.

Albakri said the opening of borders should not be politicised and governments should avoid adding costs, such as health taxes, that could be additional barriers to travel. Citing examples, he said the Seychelles was proposing a US$50 health tax for arriving passengers; Nigeria had announced a doubling of passenger facilitation charges from US$50 to US$100; and Lebanon was proposing a near US$100 charge for medical and testing related costs per passenger.

Iata’s latest assessment shows the COVID-19 impact on aviation markets in the region has worsened since April, contrasting with a global rise in air passenger traffic in May. Airline revenue in Southern Africa has dropped by 60% and passenger numbers by 58%.

South Africa is the worst hit in terms of declining passenger numbers and airline revenue: Passenger demand has plunged from 14.5m fewer passengers in April to 15.61m fewer in June; airline revenue deficit has increased from R3.02bn (€158.4m) to R3.2bn (€167.8m); and jobs at risk have increased from 251 000 to 270 000 during the same period. Airlines in Africa will lose US$42 for every passenger they carry in 2020, Iata says.

As an alternative to quarantine, Iata proposes a layered approach that should give governments the confidence to open borders without quarantine, and passengers the confidence to fly.  This focuses on two areas:

1) Reducing the risk of imported cases via travellers:

• Discouraging symptomatic passengers from travelling with airlines offering flexibility to passengers who need to adjust their schedule.
• Health screening by governments in the form of health declarations. 
• COVID-19 testing for travellers from countries perceived to be ‘higher-risk’ when accurate and fast testing is available at scale.

2) Mitigating risk in cases where an infected person does travel:

• Reducing the risk of transmission during the flight with the implementation of the Take-Off guidelines published by the International Civil Aviation Organization.  
• Contact tracing to efficiently isolate any traveller who may become symptomatic and infectious after arrival.

Reducing risk of transmission at destination through overall government measures to fight the virus.