Arlette Tanga, president of the African Air and Space Law Association, says it's a bad time for airlines once again.
While borders are closing again, airlines – which saw their air traffic fall by 69.8% during 2020 for the African continent alone – must adapt to the different policies adopted by each country: checking tests – PCR or antigenic depending on the country – of passengers and/or their staff, changing health protocols.
Since June, China has established new rules that would allow services to resume if no positive cases are detected on any flights for three consecutive weeks. However, airlines whose passengers test positive on arrival will remain grounded for a certain period: two weeks if five passengers test positive – the rule, which initially enforced a one-week suspension, was tightened in mid-December 2020 – and four weeks if 10 passengers test positive.
A measure which Rwandair and Ethiopian Airlines have already borne the brunt of. The first – which had resumed its flights to Guangzhou at the beginning of January – began its fortnight’s suspension on 31 January, while the second was hit by successive bans in September, October and throughout December 2020, and resumed its connections in January.
We interviewed Arlette Tanga, president of the African Air and Space Law Association (AADAS), which she founded in February 2019, about these measures.
Other countries, such as France, have tightened regulations on airlines, which led for example, to the suspension of Ethiopian Airlines flights to Paris between 28 and 31 January. How is the measure introduced by the Chinese different?
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