Paris (AFP)

After an unprecedented shock, air transport sets off to take off with an anti-Covid-19 arsenal, the "key" to restarting, which will have to be harmonized worldwide to avoid a "patchwork" of measures, explains Alexandre de Juniac , director general of Iata.

"One of the keys to restarting travel is a robust passenger screening process (...), which restores confidence" and makes it possible "to convince governments to lift the procedures for closing the borders", believes the boss of l 'International Air Transport Association (Iata), which brings together 290 airlines, in an interview with AFP.

"We are building something that is both safe and that allows operations to operate in an economically viable way," he said, forcibly dismissing the idea of ​​locking seats to allow physical distancing. on board.

"It wouldn't add more security to have to neutralize seats," says de Juniac.

"In addition, the economic impact would be absolutely catastrophic" and it would then "increase prices by 50 to 100%", he continues.

Discussions are underway at the level of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the large States "to try to have a convergent and harmonized approach on the whole planet on the health control system" which will be implemented by air transport players. They should, he said, be completed by "the end of May".

It is a question of avoiding "the patchwork" of security measures which had followed the attacks of September 11, in particular as regards passenger control, he comments.

Health declaration on arrival at the airport, temperature control, wearing of a mask at the airport and on the plane, distribution of pre-packaged food to limit contact, disinfection of the plane, limitation of the number of luggage cabin or even accelerated baggage delivery: the sector relies on a superimposition of measures combined with very efficient air filtration systems in aircraft to create an anti-Covid net.

- Passengers "ready to be reconquered" -

The closure of borders and movement restrictions put in place worldwide to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have brought a halt to air transport since March.

"We never knew that. No previous crisis was of this level," says the boss of Iata.

Between 80 and 90% of the world fleet has been grounded and it is only from June that traffic will restart, first on domestic lines then continental and finally intercontinental, according to Iata which estimates that '' It will not return to its pre-crisis level until 2023.

So far, only "three or four companies" have gone bankrupt, according to Mr. de Juniac, including the giant Virgin Australia which announced at the end of April that it would voluntarily put into default.

But tens of thousands of jobs have been lost.

If the companies survive, it is thanks, according to him, to the reaction "very fast and very strong" which the States showed to support, in various forms, the sector everywhere in the world "considering that it is a sector absolutely strategic. "

- Environmental commitments maintained -

As for the environmental commitments of the sector, which must reduce its CO2 emissions by half in 2050 compared to 2005 according to the rules defined by the ICAO, they will be met, he promises.

"We are trying to convince governments to devote part of their economic support plan to developing bio-fuels (bio-fuels, editor's note)".

"The renewal of the fleets (with less polluting planes, Editor's note) may be slowed down a little (...) but there will also be a few fewer planes that will fly and therefore a little less emissions", adds- he.

On the question of compensation for aid required by states, as in France for example on the environmental level, Mr. de Juniac believes that it is "rather complicated to weigh down a process when we were drowning" .

"Anyway, we were going to meet our environmental commitments," he said.

© 2020 AFP