Most passengers are confident about the safety of air travel and support mask-wearing in the near term, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The association said based on its survey conducted last month on 4,700 passengers in 11 markets around the world, showed that 85 per cent of respondents believe that aircraft are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected while 65 per cent agree that the air in the aircraft cabin is as clean as an operating room.\

“Among those who have travelled since June 2020, 86 per cent felt safe onboard owing to Covid-19 measures, in which 89 per cent believe protective measures are well implemented, and 90 per cent believe airline personnel do a good job of enforcing the measures,” IATA said.

IATA director general Willie Walsh said to avoid overwhelming airports and border control authorities, governments need to agree to replace paper-based processes with digital solutions such as the IATA Travel Pass for vaccine and testing documentation.

“Almost nine out of 10 respondents like the idea of using a mobile application (app) to store their travel health credentials and 87 per cent support a secure digital system to manage health credentials.

“Also, 75 per cent of the respondents say they will only use an app if they have full control of their vaccine or test data,” he said.

Walsh explained that the IATA Travel Pass enables travellers to receive, store and share their health information with governments and airlines while being in control of the information on their mobile device.

He added that almost two-thirds of the respondents plan to resume travel within a few months of the pandemic being contained and borders opened, while almost 85 per cent expect to be travelling by the six-month mark.