Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific is urging governments to replace quarantine requirements with testing and contact tracing protocols to ensure the sector’s survival amid a worsening situation for airports in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. 

Latest preliminary forecast figures show that Asia Pacific and Middle East airports will lose 55% and 60% passenger volume respectively by the end of 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, Asia Pacific was set to welcome close to 3.5 billion passengers in 2020. The full year estimate amounts to just above 1.5 billion passengers, a reduction of around 1.9 billion, compared to the pre-Covid-19 business-as-usual scenario.

The Middle East was set to welcome 420 million passengers this year, but this number has now been reduced to 170 million as a result of Covid-19. Airport revenues, a direct reflection of traffic are epected to decline by approximately US$27 billion in the Asia-Pacific region and US$8bn in the Middle East by the end of 2020.

Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia-Pacific said: “The latest ACI forecast depicts an ongoing uncertain picture for the airport sector. To put the revenue loss in perspective, it equates to wiping out the revenues of 27 of the regions’ busiest hubs. We are now facing at least a three-year recovery period.”

‘WORSENING ECONOMIC SITUATION’

The airport sector has implemented a raft of precautionary health and hygiene measures in anticipation of the restart. Current government travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are severely hampering the restart and contributing to the worsening economic situation.

ACI Asia-Pacific is urging governments to implement the testing and contact tracing protocols, at least between low-risk countries where the virus situation is under control and the risk of importation is low.

Baronci added: “Governments should relax current travel restrictions and consider alternative safeguarding measures to ensure the survival of the aviation sector based on a periodically updated risk assessment.

“The recent announcement from the government of Singapore that it will replace the 14-day quarantine with Covid-19 testing for all inbound passengers from some low-risk countries is a first step in the right direction to support the economic recovery of the aviation ecosystem.”