Iata issues health checklist to help airlines navigate through Covid-19 crisis

The 30-page list is designed to help airlines implement the UN aviation body's guidelines for safe travel operations during the pandemic

A passenger walks past empty American Airlines check-in terminals in the US. The International Air Transport Association (Iata) released an airline self-assessment health checklist to support operatorShow more

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) issued an airline self-assessment health checklist to help operators navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic that has transformed the norms of travel.

The checklist is designed to complement the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)'s guidance on air travel, Iata said in a statement. The ICAO's "Take-off: Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis" is a global standard framework of risk-based temporary measures for governments and the air transport industry to operate safely during the pandemic.

“Safety is always the number one priority for air transport. And the challenges of Covid-19 have added a new dimension to our efforts," Iata's director general Alexandre de Juniac said. "Developed with input from industry, public health authorities and governments, ICAO’s Take-off guidance is the global standard for safe operations. IATA’s self-assessment checklist is a practical implementation guide to help airlines comply."

Iata's 30-page Health Safety Checklist for Airline Operators provides the standards, recommended practices, associated guidance material and other supporting information needed for an airline to conduct a self-assessment. It covers nine sections including pre-arrival notification, check-in, embarkation and disembarkation, aircraft cleaning, onboard air quality, in-flight operations, flight and cabin crew, crew layover and airport facilities.

For example, Iata details steps for aircraft sanitisation.

"The operator shall have aircraft cleaning and sanitising procedures for the flight deck, if used, oxygen masks, passenger cabin and cargo compartments, as well as the access panels for the air conditioning system, potable water system, intercom system and any other system that has an access panel used by ground and/or maintenance personnel," according to the checklist.

It also outlines steps to ensure onboard air quality is optimum.

"The operator shall have procedures to ensure the best possible aircraft internal air quality when passengers are embarking and/or are on board," it said.

Iata's health checklist for airlines will be important for implementing the ICAO's Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations, said the ICAO's council president Salvatore Sciacchitano.

“A harmonised approach to health is key not only to the recovery of civil aviation but also to ‘building back better’, which is crucially important to ensuring the future resilience of the aviation network," Mr Sciacchitano said.