Covid-19 has caused drastic changes in almost all aspects of life and business since it caused international shutdowns throughout 2020. Airports and air travel have been one of the hardest hit industries to prevent the rapid spread of Covid-19. Now in 2021, with everything slowly beginning to re-open again, we are starting to see how the new norm of current and post-Covid air travel will function.
With the focus on safer, and stricter health checks prior to, during and after travel, it is obvious to see that health screening is going to become a very important addition to international travel across the globe. It appears that the air transport industry is clearly set to become the leader is application of stringent and systematic health screening in the near future. Currently, travellers are facing an inconsistent array of checks both before and after a flight, as a standardised system of checks has still not been established, but this is subject to change soon.
Most countries now understand the importance of testing new arrivals as well as returning nationals as a method to stopping rapid growth in Covid-19 infections. Tests are often having to be conducted multiple times throughout a traveller’s trip to ensure they are not spreading the virus. Furthermore, many airports are applying methods of thermal screening as a remote measure to ensure travellers with higher-than-normal temperatures are identified and tested to ensure no infected individuals manage to gain access into the country. “Health is the new safety, or will be the new safety, for air travel,” Said Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research.
The inclusion of health screening in airports is important in both quelling anxiety of travellers regarding their safety from Covid-19, as well as allowing airlines to return to pre-Covid operations as soon as possible. These changes to screenings within airports are essential in restoring the confidence in air travel; both in the short and long term.
