Australian authorities should proceed assist for airways and tourism

The Australian government must continue to provide airline and tourism support. AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas has announced to Skynews.

See the interview here

On the jobkeeper issue, Mr Thomas warned Australia was in danger of crippling its aviation industry unless the government continued support beyond the end of March.

“Three out of four workers, depending on Jobkeeper, and 45 percent of workers have access to their super, and 50 percent have trouble paying their mortgage.”

“Australia has the safest and best airline system in the world, but we run the risk of it being decimated [through layoffs]”Warned Mr. Thomas.

“Australia, with its long distances and small populations, relies on airlines more than any other country.”

“If we get out of this pandemic, we need a thriving aviation industry that is not ravaged by job losses,” said Thomas.

Mr Thomas also said that airlines undoubtedly need to implement a policy requiring everyone to get a COVID-19 vaccination before a flight to meet the expectations of overseas countries.

“I believe it will be mandatory to have a kick and take a test before you fly, and it should be.”

Mr Thomas pointed out that this is not a new concept because 30 or 40 years ago “you had a passport on the one hand and a vaccination book on the other”.

“The other problem here is that certain countries, such as Singapore, are unlikely to allow people to enter or cross Singapore without vaccination.”

“Mr. Thomas said,” It’s not the airlines, it’s the requirements of the countries and I would say most counties need a vaccination and a COVID-19 test.

“Until we all get vaccinated – and we have to do it as soon as possible to reduce the risk of mutations – we have to get vaccinated before the flight, no question about it.”

Mr. Thomas warned that the virus mutations posed a serious threat.

“The South African pollution is a big problem.”