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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) jointly called on governments to follow the guidelines of the Council Aviation Recovery Working Group (CART) of the Organization of International Civil Aviation (ICAO) to exempt crews from COVID-19 tests that apply to air travelers.
The CART guidelines [1] specifically recommend that crew members are not subject to controls or restrictions applicable to other travelers. Also, according to CART. Methods for assessing the health of crew members should be as “non-invasive as possible”
Despite this guidance, a growing number of States are applying the same public health measures for aircrew that apply to the general traveling public. Such measures include providing proof of a negative COVID test prior to departure and, in some cases, a second negative COVID test is required on arrival. Additionally, several civil aviation regulators only allow crew members with a negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate to call in their respective countries.
“These measures not only contravene the global guidance recommended by ICAO, but they do not take into account the fact that interactions with the local population are minimized,” said Gilberto López Meyer, senior vice president of flight and safety operations at IATA. For example, the stopover crew is often restricted to the hotel. Such measures also ignore the fact that airlines already meet the requirements of their home country’s health protection and monitoring programs to manage crew health, which generally includes measures to reduce the risk of infection.
“The measures that some States are employing not only contravene the recommended guidance, but are also putting undue stress and pressure on crews. The guidance provided has been carefully developed to ensure that operations can continue without endangering the safety of both crews and passengers, ”said Captain Jack Netskar, IFALPA President.
In addition to the intrusion and physical discomfort of daily COVID-19 tests, there are significant cost considerations. A global airline has estimated that the cost of meeting these requirements for a single daily flight would be an additional $ 950,000 per year.
“Airlines are willing to invest in security that delivers meaningful results, but that’s not the case with unilateral and uncoordinated testing requirements. States must recognize that the crew has a different risk profile than passengers and that greater flexibility and relaxation of testing and / or quarantine requirements, including exemptions, could be considered, ”said López Meyer.
