We must “avoid settling for minimum standards” in aviation after COVID-19

The Portuguese Minister for Infrastructure and Housing says that the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU “supports policies that will avoid settling for minimum standards” in the aviation sector and invites all stakeholders and EU Member States to “join forces to prevent this type of behaviour”.

Pedro Nuno Santos was speaking at the Aviation Day Conference, organised by the National Civil Aviation Authority under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU, about the challenges faced by aviation in a world after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minister also pointed to the ecological challenges faced by the sector, guaranteeing that TAP will be one of the “greenest, most comfortable” airlines in the world. The world is going through a period that demands “critical action”, and politicians and the community must be “up to the challenge”, according to Pedro Nuno Santos.

In a recorded speech, the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, said that the aviation sector “is going through its worst crisis”, predicting that the recovery of air traffic will only be possible in 2025 or even later. “In recent years, we have been doing everything we can to support airlines and airports, introducing flexibility into slot requests and handling”. The Commissioner added that there is a “great deal of hope that, as the vaccination campaign advances and the digital green certificate is implemented, air traffic will be able to take its first steps towards recovery”.

The Chair of the National Civil Aviation Authority, Luís Miguel Ribeiro, stressed that the recovery of the sector will take “longer” than expected, so it is necessary to “reassure passengers” and continue to “prepare coordinated, consistent answers”.

The aim of the Aviation Day Conference was to fuel discussion of the measures that could contribute to the recovery of the sector after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the motto of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU: “Time to deliver: a fair, green and digital recovery”.