European recovery from COVID-19
17 February 2022 - Directors General of Civil Aviation in ECAC Member States and representatives of EUROCONTROL, the European Commission, EASA and a guest speaker from the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) gathered online for the second COVID-19 European coordination meeting of the year.
The meeting heard updates from EUROCONTROL on traffic developments across Europe, noting a strong air traffic recovery with around 18 000 flights a day registered over the week preceding the meeting. According to EUROCONTROL’s traffic forecast, very strong load factors and bookings were to be expected for the Easter holidays.
The European Commission representative reported that new in-travel recommendations issued by the Council of the EU were now in place. He explained that the colour code of the country of origin was no longer a determining factor in the treatment of passengers and that the focus was shifting to a person-based approach, meaning that passengers would have to provide their COVID-19 certificate, certificate of recovery or a similar health/sanitary pass when travelling by air.
EBAA Secretary General Athar Husain Khan provided a comprehensive presentation on the impact of COVID-19 on the business aviation sector. On flight activity over the last two years (impacted by the COVID-19 crisis), Mr Husain Khan highlighted that the trend over 2021 was almost the same (with slight dips) as in 2020.
ECAC Member States provided updates on the current travel restrictions in their countries, as well as on the lifting of certain restrictions by Austria and the Czech Republic.
EASA noted the various initiatives taken by Member States to relax measures and confirmed it was starting to update the aviation safety protocol. A more mature draft of the protocol would be made available to Member States for consultation in March 2022.