Montreal (AFP)

Wearing a mask, temperature controls, disinfecting aircraft: the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published Monday a series of health recommendations for air transport to relaunch a sector badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

This health protocol is the fruit of the work of an international "task force" set up by the UN organization, in collaboration with many organizations like the WHO or the powerful International Air Transport Association (IATA). The report of this "task force on the revival of aviation after Covid-19" is to be approved Monday afternoon by the Council of ICAO, its executive body.

The director general of IATA Alexandre de Juniac unveiled the main measures proposed by this "guide to good practices" at the end of last week.

The recommendations are intended to be a "framework" aimed at the safety of both passengers and staff, at airports and on board aircraft.

The traveler should present, upon arrival at the airport, a health declaration and undergo a first temperature check, suggests ICAO. Online check-in before arriving at the airport should be favored, and security checkpoints should be redesigned to limit physical contact and queues.

The wearing of a mask or a face cover must be compulsory inside the terminal, where a physical distance of at least one meter must be respected, as well as on board the devices.

Once inside the aircraft, passengers must keep their mask and move as little as possible during the flight, avoiding queues to the toilet so as not to risk contaminating other passengers.

- "World reference" -

ICAO does not advocate neutralizing one seat out of two to ensure physical distance, a system denounced by the industry which sees it as a threat to its profitability.

However, the organization requests that travelers be as far apart from each other as possible, depending on the occupancy of the aircraft. It also recommends that the food on board be prepackaged and that the aircraft be disinfected regularly.

New temperature checks must also be performed on arrival.

These measures will not be compulsory but they have been the subject of a broad consensus which will give them "an authority which will make world reference, for the first time on this subject since the crisis of COVID-19", explains to AFP Philippe Bertoux, representative of France on the ICAO Council, who led the debates of the "task force".

"These measures will facilitate a safe and sustainable resumption of air transport, this through a close partnership between the aviation and health sectors illustrated by the active participation of WHO in our regulatory work", he adds. -he.

The report submitted for Council approval more broadly presents "a strategy for resuming international air transport", which is going through the most serious crisis in its history according to the agency.

The changes imposed on the aviation sector to fight the epidemic are the most significant since the measures to strengthen security decided following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

In order to be able to restart after being grounded and brought to its knees financially, the air transport sector demanded a harmonization of the rules in order to reassure passengers and the States which have largely closed their borders in the hope of halting the spread of the epidemic.

ICAO estimates that the coronavirus pandemic could reduce the number of passengers by 1.5 billion by the end of the year.

© 2020 AFP