The Airlines Association (ALA) has officially made a request to the Spanish Government today (Monday) for all international travellers to exempt from having to have PCR tests to enter Spain if they have already received full vaccination against Covid-19, because other countries, such as Greece, are to allow it without waiting for the digital green certificate that the EU is working on.
In a press conference this morning, the president of ALA, Javier Gándara, has announced that they plan to operate 58% of the flights this summer made in the same period of 2019, before the Covid pandemic, but 14% more than the summer of last year, with a somewhat better evolution in domestic flights than in international ones.
Although Europe is lagging behind other markets such as China or the United States, where domestic tourism is already highly reactivated, some countries such as Greece are already taking measures to open their borders from May 14th and will exempt tourists from the requirement of a PCR test if already vaccinated. The vaccine and the digital certificate are, Gándara said, the keys to recovering safe tourism fully.
CARGO HAS SEEN AN INCREASE:
The only thing that has had a better evolution has been air cargo, as between October 2020 and March 2021 the companies transported 81% of what they moved in the pre-pandemic period, and now they are already at levels close to 90%. In these six months, passenger traffic was only 34% of what it was in the same period of the previous year.
The ALA, which represents more than 60 airlines that make up 85% of the country's air traffic, defends that airlines are prepared to regain connectivity by resuming routes that have been inactive during the pandemic, more than 8,500 point-to-point throughout Europe, of which 2,000 were lost in the first quarter of 2021.
For this reason, Gándara has opted for the example of Greece to be followed in Spain and that vaccinated international tourists begin to be accepted without waiting for the implementation of this “Covid passport” and that they are exempted from the presentation of other tests such as PCR’s.
EXTENSION OF THE ERTE UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR:
Likewise, he is in favour of accepting antigen tests as an alternative to PCR for non vaccinated travellers, as other European countries do, establishing bilateral agreements with the main source markets and extending the ERTE until September 21st.
Last March, the lines integrated in ALA kept 14,134 workers in employment regulation files (ERTE), 81% of the 17,000 who had in the first state of alarm.
Another important element to promote the recovery is the reduction of rates by the air navigation manager, AENA, in the DORA program (the air traffic regulation document) for the next five years.
However, the forecasts are subject to strong uncertainty, because they will vary depending on the rate of vaccination, the evolution of the pandemic itself or the measures adopted by the different states.
In fact, the winter data reflect that the restrictions on mobility in the six months between October 2020 and March 2021, passenger traffic decreased by 83% compared to the equivalent pre-Covid period.
The president of the airlines association also assured that flying is now cheaper than it has ever been because companies are trying to stimulate demand and this situation will continue in the short to medium term.
