Covid-19: American airlines will participate in tracing contact cases
Passengers go through security checks at Denver Airport in the United States on February 18, 2021. AP - David Zalubowski
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The airline industry is one of the major victims of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic. Globally, attendance fell by 66% in 2020. So, the main airlines of the United States have finally brought their support for a US Center for Disease Control contact tracing program.
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Seven airlines including American, United, Southwest and Delta Airlines have committed to forwarding certain data of passengers traveling to the United States to the Centers for Disease Control.
They will ask their customers to provide, if they accept it, two telephone numbers, an email address, the address where they will be staying in the United States or their permanent address if they reside in the country.
The objective of this new measure is to ensure that contact cases can be quickly prevented.
However, it took a year to reach this decision.
In February 2020, the CDC asked companies to transmit this data to the Customs and Border Protection Agency.
But this rule has never been applied.
The companies then explained that they could not provide this information, in particular for passengers who do not book their ticket directly with them.
Airlines for America, an industry association, hopes the move, along with measures already in place, will prompt politicians to lift travel restrictions.
Entry is limited
for travelers who have recently stayed in Brazil, the Schengen zone and South Africa, among others.
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Transport
Economy
United States
Coronavirus