AACO adopts ‘net zero emissions’ target by 2050

The 54th Annual General Meeting of Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO) in Doha adopted ‘net zero emissions’ target as of 2050.The AGM adopted another resolution on Thursday “reflecting what is needed for a faster recovery” of the air transport sector from the implications of Covid-19.In particular, the AGM called upon governments to follow the guidelines of air travel and biosafety that were agreed upon by governments through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and their joint work which culminated in the publishing of the ICAO’s Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce’s Recovery Report and Take-off Guidance which is now available in its 4th edition.The AGM also commended and welcomed the decision of the Arab League’s Council of Economic and Social Affairs, which adopted general principles for air travel biosafety measures and the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates based on global guidelines by ICAO and the WHO.The AGM called upon governments to implement those principles in the national measures with regards to biosafety and air travel, and directed AACO to support the work of the Arab League jointly with the Arab Civil Aviation Organisation, the Arab Tourism Organisation, and the International Air Transport Association.With regards to certain countries’ initiatives to agree on ‘Travel Health Corridors and/or Travel Bubbles’, the AGM called upon those governments to follow ICAO’s guidelines while implementing those measures, particularly that they be temporary and that air services agreements, as they stand, should be the basis for any opening up for air travel under the travel health corridors and /or travel bubbles.In addition, the AGM stressed the importance of technology to create touchless processes in all the travel activities and supported the initiatives taken by a number of entities to develop and deploy applications that would facilitate touchless air travel, particularly the ‘IATA Travel Pass’ and other applications which can be used by both governments and stakeholders.Recovery seen in three to five years: The AGM noted that returning to 2019 passenger traffic levels may take three to five years from now, a period that depends heavily on how the world will adapt to a new normal of having an endemic Covid - 19.Presenting a report, AACO secretary general Abdul Wahab Teffaha noted The global economy in 2020 declined by 3.2% and will manage to recover its losses in 2021, while the Arab economy suffered a double hit from the collapse of oil prices due to the global economic recession and effect of the pandemic on the travel and tourism sector which is an essential component of the Arab economy, pushing economic recovery until 2022.The contribution of the travel and tourism sector in global GDP dropped from 10.4% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2020, while in the Arab world the same indicator dropped from 14.4% in 2019 to 5.4 in 2020.The percentage of job losses in this sector worldwide was around 32% of the total jobs lost in 2020, while the percentage of job losses in the Arab world in travel and tourism accounted for 55% of the total jobs lost in 2020.Total Passenger traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), was globally still 66.7% lower in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2019 and less by 80.0% for the Arab airlines, Teffaha said.