COVID-19 has created an unprecedented global challenge, particularly to the aviation industry. The quick spread of the virus has caused governments to rapidly restrict travel and close borders in order to limit the spread. This had a drastic and detrimental effect on airports worldwide. A variety of new measures could become a necessity at airports, based on various phases of the pandemic, related medical criteria coming from recognized health authorities, and stages of business recovery. For airport operators, the main principles are to protect the health and welfare of travelers, staff and the public, to minimize the opportunities for dissemination of communicable diseases, and be able to maintain efficient operations.
This guidance document presents considerations in all aspects of airport management and operation to enable the restart of aviation operations while maintaining the confidence of staff and travelers. The objective of this guidance document is not to expect airports to use all the options provided, but rather give advice on implementation and best practice of measures that might be appropriate according to circumstance.
This is intended to be a living document with chapters added or amended as additional information becomes available. Each chapter may be read as a standalone document; each is subject to version control.
We can expect the return to business for the industry to take place in phases:
- Initial restart with limited number of passengers
- Recovery with a slow increase in passenger volume
- Gradual scale-up in capacity
- Return to more normal passenger volumes
Full Report >> ACI-Airport-Operations-Business-Restart-and-Recovery-May-2020.pdf (1 MB)