The COVID-19 pandemic has been “the mother of all crises” for the aviation industry, which will not recover until a majority of the world’s population is immunized against the disease, Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, told a Flight Safety Foundation seminar today.
In the opening keynote address to the sixth annual Singapore Aviation Safety Seminar (SASS), held virtually, Menon warned that, with thousands of aircraft still parked and many airports relatively empty, “there is no light at the end of the tunnel – yet.”
Vaccination is the key to recovery, he said.
However, he added, “Mass vaccination is heavily skewed in favor of the rich countries, while it will be 2024 before poor, and many middle-income, countries are adequately immunized. Apart from the moral imperative, many in the developed world are slow to acknowledge that vaccine inequity will delay the restart of air travel and global recovery.”
…
