21 April 2021: The trade associations representing Europe’s airlines and airports wrote this week [1] [2]to the head of governments of EU/EEA Member States to underline the urgency of easing and ultimately lifting current travel restrictions. This would in turn contribute to the recovery of the travel and tourism sector. Significant preparatory work needs to be done at national level by all concerned States, so that Digital Green Certificates can effectively be issued and accepted in accordance with the EU Regulation and its implementing acts defining their technical specifications by the end of June.

The aviation industry reiterates its support to the European Commission’s 17 March adoption of a proposal for an EU Regulation on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable certificates on vaccination, testing and recovery to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic (Digital Green Certificate).

Interoperable, secure and GDPR-compliant health certificates are an essential tool to facilitate the free movement of European citizens within the EU/EEA and Switzerland.

European aviation remains one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. Passenger traffic across the EU/EEA/Swiss airport network was down by 89% in March 2021 compared to March 2019,* with initial data for April standing at 87%.** Similarly, air connectivity keeps declining, with Europe having lost over 8,500 air routes this month, further down from 6,663 air routes lost last January.

As the majority of our members are now facing acute business continuity issues, it is crucial that air traffic is restarted in time for the peak summer months – along with the reopening of the travel and tourism sectors. This would also allow Europeans to travel abroad for their holidays, and finally reconnect with their family, their culture and friends across our continent.

The expected acceleration of the rollout of the vaccines across the EU/EEA and Switzerland by June should allow travel restrictions to be eased significantly. In this regard, the example of how vaccination has facilitated a decisive improvement in the epidemiological situation in other countries such as the UK and Israel is indeed very encouraging