THE preoccupation with community transmission of COVID-19 by governments across the world is proving an irrational major impediment to the recommencement of aviation, according to Subas Menon, who, with exquisite timing, became Director-General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) in March this year. Menon, well known in Australia as the former Singapore Airlines Regional Vice President South West Pacific, told travelBulletin he believes it is vital that the world learns to adapt to the “new normal” of COVID-19 and “re-create an aviation network by applying science to mitigate identifiable risks to travellers and crew”.
Noting the massive impact that opening up flights will have on revitalising battered economies, Menon said aviation was only likely to resume in earnest when governments act in concert “to apply measures that are safe but practical, to facilitate, rather than deter travel. The current patchwork of blanket containment measures are only serving to suppress aviation demand,” he said.
