Page 21 - AAA MARCH - MAY 2022 Online Magazine

than half of their projected baseline revenues, longer require masks at airports and on planes throughout its
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East will remain the 27-country bloc. Covid travel restrictions will longer apply in Spain.
most impacted for the second straight year, With the pandemic on the wane, more countries are expected to
with decreases of 48.8% and 43.2 per cent do away with stringent testing requirements, thus providing further
respectively. momentum to passenger traffic recovery.

The steep fall in total passenger traffic in the
Asia-Pacific region in 2022 is in spite of the Since April, masks are no longer mandatory on U.S. flights after a
surge in traffic expected as most countries federal judge in Florida intervened and ruled that the Biden admin-
in the region lift curbs on international travel istration’s mask mandate on public transportation was unlawful.
by the second half of the year. The region is Soon after the court’s order, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic
forecast to see 1.87 billion fewer passengers announced that masks would be optional on flights to U.S. desti-
than what was projected before the pandemic, nations.
thus recording the highest traffic loss among
all regions. PCR tests are still required for even fully vaccinated passengers
traveling from international destinations to the U.S., but pres-
Opening Up, Finally sure is mounting on the Biden administration to drop Covid test
Singapore, which lifted after most travel requirements for such passengers. “Doing so is justified by the per-
restrictions for fully vaccinated people at the vasiveness of COVID cases in all 50 states, increased immunity and
beginning of April, has seen international air higher vaccination rates as well as new treatments,” said a letter by
travel pick up substantially. Air traffic started airlines and other travel industry groups in February to White House
picking up even before that, after the country coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients. “Removing the
replaced PCR tests with supervised self-swabs requirement will greatly support the recovery of travel and aviation
from Feb. 22. Changi Airport handled 1.14 million in the United States and globally without increasing the spread of
passengers in March, the first time the figure COVID-19 and its variants.” Airlines for America, a lobbying group
had climbed above 1 million since the start of that represents Delta, American, United, Southwest, and other
the pandemic. airlines in the country, was among the signatories of the letter.
So have other countries in the region. After a
lengthy a two-year ban, India resumed inter-
national flights from March 27 and do not
require PCR tests for fully vaccinated travelers.
Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia now allow
quarantine-free entry for vaccinated travelers
again while Vietnam ad Cambodia have also
eased restrictions and reopened their borders,
giving air traffic in the region a fillip. From May
1, Thailand scrapped RT-PCR tests for those
entering via air and land borders; only voluntary
self-administered antigen tests are required
for entry. While Vietnam only insists on a neg-
ative COVID-19 test and have done away with
mandatory quarantine requirements for both
foreigners and Vietnamese nationals enter-
ing the country, South Korea has allowed fully
vaccinated travelers to enter the country and
skip the seven-day quarantine. Cambodia has
eliminated its mandate that overseas visitors
must take COVID-19 tests before entering the
country.

More Good News
Elsewhere, other countries are following U.K,
which lifted all coronavirus travel restrictions
in March, and are doing their bit to make inter-
national air travel less of a hassle. While Israel
is planning end its mandate for passengers to
wear masks aboard international flights, the
European Union announced that it would no

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE March_May 2022 | 21