(4 minutes read)
· According to the International Air Transport’s Association (IATA). The damage caused to the African aviation industry and on economies by the shutdown of air traffic is insurmountable
· As the pandemic in the continent is seemingly in the downturn now, 31 countries are opening their borders to regional and international air travel
· The flipside is that in 22 countries, passengers are still subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine
· This would translate into less inflow of tourist traffic particularly from countries like the US, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the UK
According to the International Air Transport’s Association (IATA). The damage caused to the African aviation industry and on economies by the shutdown of air traffic is insurmountable. As the pandemic in the continent is seemingly in the downturn now, 31 countries are opening their borders to regional and international air travel. The flipside is that in 22 countries, passengers are still subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. This would translate into less inflow of tourist traffic particularly from countries like the US, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the UK.
South Africa opened its borders for international commercial travel on Thursday, 1 October as reported by www.trendsnafrica.com, with the caveat that all arrivals from abroad will be screened. Passengers showing any symptoms of Covid-19 will be required to stay in quarantine until they test negative for the virus. Also, international arrivals will have to present proof of a negative coronavirus test less than 72 hours old. African airlines’ traffic dipped by 90.1% in August, an improvement over a 94.6% decline in July. Capacity contracted 78.4%, and the load factor fell 41.0 percentage points to 34.6%.
According to new data published by the Air Transport Action Group, 4.5 million African jobs will be lost in aviation and industries supported by aviation in 2020. This is well over half of the region’s 7.7 million aviation-related employment. It is also estimated that 172 000 jobs will be lost in aviation alone in 2020. This is about 40% of the region’s 440 000 aviation jobs.
