Page 38 - World Airnews Magazine August 2020

FEATURE

TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP

PROTECT ‘TRAVEL

BUBBLES’ FROM POPPING

ment within safer zones first, for example the
SITA vice-president trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and
border management his year a new vocabulary has seeped New Zealand which is being discussed.
This will enable open travel between coun-
with Jeremy Springall Tinto global consciousness. From ‘new tries within the zone, although might still be

normal’ to the more practical yet equally disliked

helps to unpacks the ‘social distancing’, the additions to this year’s subject to additional health checks and close
monitoring to avoid the risk of outbreaks.

dictionary paint a bleak, dystopian picture.
There are also countries deemed higher risks,
technical, operational But in the last few weeks, fresh terms are be- where travel corridors might be restricted to
and governmental ing met with interest from wanderlust-stricken certain categories of traveller or under strict

travellers and cautious optimism from govern-

challenges ments and businesses hoping to rebound from conditions, for example the Singapore-China
‘fast lane’ corridor. These restricted travel

associated with a the economic damage of COVID-19. corridors will allow some movement for critical
‘Travel bubbles’, ‘travel corridors’ and
travel, including sponsored business travel.
travel bubble ‘air bridges’ are terms to describe formal Both models require an information-driven

agreements between governments allowing approach based on real-time data and they

travellers to bypass strict quarantine measures need to be responsive to handle rapidly chang-
based on the countries they travel between. ing situations.

It’s a simple but elegant idea to help combat
the likelihood of COVID-19 resurgence, in par- LAYERED APPROACH

ticular second waves sparked by passengers Many governments take a layered approach to
arriving from high-risk regions. border management, starting well in advance of

As promising as these sounds, the practicality travel. If they can identify high risk passengers

of protecting these bubbles is fraught with tech- and limit their travel, this will support airports

nical, operational, and governmental challenges. and airlines relaxing some of the measures for
SAFER AND RESTRICTED ZONES lower risk passengers at the airport.
There are four primary steps in this layered
As countries begin to ease air travel restric- approach:

tions, they will be very mindful of preventing The first is the visa or travel authorisation

a resurgence of cases. Governments will process, where passengers apply for entry into
therefore want to take a controlled manner to a country. We can see that this requirement

open up their borders and might take different might increase due to the pandemic and that

approaches based on the risk profile for each health information, or a health declaration,

travel corridor destination. will be incorporated into these checks up to

Where the virus risk is low, we’re beginning the point of departure. Travellers will be asked

to see specific regions wishing to allow move- to confirm where they will be staying during

World Airnews | August 2020
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