Still some work to do for progressively re-opening Mideast countries: Walsh

Middle East countries have still some work to do although they are progressively re-opening, post-pandemic, said IATA director general Willie Walsh.“Vaccination rates across the region are rising. As examples, Qatar has reached 77% and the UAE is at 88%. Vaccinations are the ultimate way out of this crisis. So, this is very important progress,” Walsh said at the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) 54th AGM at the Sheraton Doha yesterday. Walsh, however, said four challenges remained for the Middle East region. “First, we need to have truly hassle-free travel for those who are vaccinated. You can travel to the Kingdom of Bahrain and in select cases to UAE simply by proving your vaccination status. But for other markets a PCR test is required.“And the cost burden of testing is placed on the passenger, in contravention of the WHO’s International Health Regulations. Travellers to Kuwait can expect to pay $100 for the required PCR test, $60 if you are travelling to Oman.”Second, he noted that there was a need for alignment on accepted vaccines with the WHO emergency use list of approved vaccines. “Right now, it is a mish-mash. States, of course, can choose which vaccines to make available to their populations. But all governments should respect and recognise all the vaccines on the WHO emergency use list for travellers who, in most cases, will not have had a choice in what is available. “Third, we need to have efficient alternatives to enable travel for those without access to vaccines. There needs to be sensible testing regimes in place for those unable to access vaccines.“Fourth, antigen testing needs to replace expensive PCR testing for travel purposes. Antigen tests are accurate, convenient, and affordable. Processing times for antigen tests are 100 times faster than for PCR tests, they are much cheaper and have comparable performance to PCR tests in levels of false negatives.”Addressing these four challenges, he said, will be critical to reconnect the region and link it to the rest of the world. Considering that 97% of pre-pandemic traffic for airlines based in this region was international, getting this right is vital.“Efficiently restoring the freedom to travel is in everybody’s interest. And the $8bn of support provided to the industry by governments in this region during the crisis demonstrated the value that governments recognise in the work that aviation does. And it is a good investment. Our industry will energise the economic recovery from Covid-19.”