Covid passports are the only way to restart mass foreign travel, according to the chief executive of the world’s busiest airport.
Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths told the BBC: ‘I don’t think there is an alternative.’
The World Health Organisation and World Travel & Tourism Council are among those opposed to vaccine passports amid fears that they will create a ‘two-tier society’, but Griffiths said such documents were ‘inevitable’.
He was quoted as saying: ‘I think the problem is not the vaccine passport and its discrimination. It’s the need to roll things out and have a proper globally equitable vaccine programme.’
The BBC notes that the aviation industry is desperately looking for ways to pick up speed after the damage wrought by government restrictions and a collapse in passenger confidence.
According to the Air Transport Action Group, it was making a $3.5 trillion annual contribution to the global economy before the pandemic. However, with flights grounded, the numbers going through Dubai International Airport have collapsed in a similar way to the rest of the industry.
A record 86.3 million people passed through Dubai in 2019 – confirming its place as the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, having overtaken London’s Heathrow in 2014 – but as the coronavirus pandemic grounded flights, the numbers fell by 70% to 25.8 million last year.
[Image: Jimmy Harris]