The Australian government must continue support for airlines and tourism AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas has told Skynews.
See the interview here
On the Jobkeeper issue, Mr. Thomas warned that Australia is in danger of having its airline industry crippled unless the government kept up support beyond the end of March.
"Three out of four workers depending on Jobkeeper and 45 percent of workers have accessed their super and 50 percent are having problems paying their mortgage."'
"Australia has the world's safest and best airline system but we are in danger of seeing that decimated [through layoffs]," Mr. Thomas warned.
"Australia with its vast distances and sparse population relies on airlines more than any other country."
"When we come out of this pandemic we need a vibrant aviation industry, not one ravaged by job losses, Mr. Thomas said,
Mr. Thomas also said that airlines will undoubtedly have to implement a policy requiring everyone to receive a COVID-19 vaccination before flying to align with the expectations of overseas countries.
“I believe that having the jab, having a test before you fly is going to be mandatory, and so it should be.”
Mr. Thomas pointed out it was not a new concept because going back 30 or 40 years ago “you had a passport on one hand and you had a vaccination book on the other”.
“The other issue here is certain countries, like Singapore for instance, they probably will not allow people to either enter Singapore or transit Singapore without a vaccination.”
"Mr. Thomas said "it will not be up to the airlines it’s going to be up to what countries require and I would say that most counties will require a vaccination, will require a COVID-19 test.
“So until we get everybody vaccinated – and we need to do that as fast as possible so we reduce the chance of mutations – we are going to have to have a vaccination before you fly, no question".
Mr. Thomas warned that the virus mutations were a dire threat.
"The South African strain is a major issue."
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