Sydney (AFP)
Australian airline Qantas will make Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for all passengers on its international flights, its boss said, ensuring the requirement would likely become "common" in the industry.
The requirement to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel on Qantas will come into effect as soon as a vaccine is available to the public, company CEO Alan Joyce said on Monday evening.
"We are considering changing our terms of service for international travelers, to tell them that we will ask people to get vaccinated before they can get on the plane," Joyce told Channel. Nine.
Qantas is studying the implementation of this measure for its domestic flights, said the CEO.
“But for international travelers arriving in Australia and for people leaving the country, we believe it is a necessity,” he continued.
The CEO of Qantas predicts that this type of measure will become widespread in the world of air transport, while governments and airlines are currently considering, according to him, the introduction of electronic vaccination records.
Australia has closed its borders since March to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, tens of thousands of Australians are stranded abroad, with the government only allowing a limited number of its nationals to return each week.
This policy of isolation seems to have borne fruit, since the country has recorded since the start of the pandemic only 907 deaths for just over 27,800 cases.
Hit hard, like all other airlines in the world, by the sudden slowdown in air traffic due to the epidemic, Qantas cut 8,500 jobs and grounded more than 200 planes.
© 2020 AFP