A joint paper, titled "Safely Restarting Aviation – ACI and IATA Joint Approach," was published between the World Airports Council and IATA, highlighting the path to restarting the aviation industry.

The parties have said that airlines and airports have cooperated to establish a roadmap that guarantees that health and security remain the overall priorities for the public traveling.

The collaborative strategy recommends a strategy to interventions over the entire passage to reduce the risk of COVID-19 being spread on airports and on-board aircraft and to prevent aviation from being a major source of foreign re-infection.

In order to ensure an even recovery, these steps should be compatible internationally, subject to constant evaluation, change, and elimination if no longer necessary.

ACI and IATA are both central members of the COVID-19 Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) which is being led by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

CART facilitates cooperation between governments and government and industry which is essential if measures which are essential for restoring air connectivity and passenger confidence in the air travel are to be harmonized and consistent.

“There is currently no single measure that could mitigate all the risks of restarting air travel but we believe a globally-consistent, outcome-based approach represents the most effective way of balancing risk mitigation with the need to unlock economies and to enable travel,” ACI world director-general Angela Gittens said.

Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of IATA, said that restoring air connectivity is necessary for restarting the global economy and reconnecting people.

“Our layered approach of measures recommended by airports and airlines safeguard public health while offering a practical approach for a gradual restart of operations.

“It is important to remember that the risk of transmission on board is very low. And we are determined that aviation will not be a significant source of re-infection,” he said.

Alexandre added that they actively work with policymakers to ensure that policies are continuously enforced and validated by research.