Australian airline Qantas will make vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory for all passengers on its international flights, its boss announced Monday, November 23, ensuring this requirement would probably become
"common"
in the sector.
The requirement to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel on Qantas will come into effect as soon as a vaccine becomes available to the public, said company CEO Alan Joyce.
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"We are considering changing our terms of service for international travelers, to tell them that we will ask people to get vaccinated before they can get on the plane,"
Alan Joyce told Channel Nine. .
Qantas is studying the implementation of this measure for its domestic flights, said the CEO.
“But for international travelers arriving in Australia and for people leaving the country, we believe it is a necessity,”
he continued.
Electronic vaccination records
The CEO of Qantas predicts that this type of measure will become widespread in the world of air transport, while governments and airlines are currently considering, according to him, the introduction of electronic vaccination records.
Read also: Covid-19: how France is preparing for a very large vaccination campaign
Australia has closed its borders since March to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, tens of thousands of Australians are stranded abroad, with the government only allowing a limited number of its nationals to return each week.
This policy of isolation seems to have borne fruit, since the country has recorded since the start of the pandemic only 907 deaths for just over 27,800 cases.
Hit hard, like all other airlines in the world, by the sudden slowdown in air traffic due to the epidemic, Qantas cut 8,500 jobs and grounded more than 200 planes.
