PETALING JAYA: Health protocols for flights must be consistent, simpler and predictable to ensure smooth and full recovery in the aviation industry, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).

       The Transport Minister said this includes allowing vaccinated individuals to travel without additional measures, avoid on-arrival testing, remove travel bans, use pre-departure antigen tests for non-vaccinated passengers, and immediately ease ongoing travel restrictions.

       Dr Wee said at present, recovery in air travel was slowly picking up around the world as many countries begin easing travel restrictions.

       "Countries that persist in attempting to lock-out the disease, risk missing out on the enormous economic and societal benefits that a restoration of international connectivity will bring.

       "Some key elements that affect and slow down the recovery rate includes quarantine requirements, testing requirements and visa/entry permit requirements for travellers," said Dr Wee during his opening remarks during the Changi Aviation Summit in Singapore on Tuesday (May 17).

       Dr Wee said as countries opened up their respective borders, airports around the world should consider lifting quarantine requirements for vaccinated travellers, gradually remove testing requirements for entry, and ease visa permit requirements.

       Meanwhile, Dr Wee said many airports are faced with operational challenges, such as manpower constraints, health document check, and Covid-19 tests in airports as the aviation industry begins to recover.

       "The absence of staff due to Covid-19 infections has hampered the operations of airlines and airports that are already struggling with recruitment after workers deserted the industry during the pandemic," added Dr Wee.

       Dr Wee also said the slew of procedures that an individual has to go through while travelling, has led to passenger processing and waiting times to increase by 100%.

       "Covid-19 testing is still a common requirement for travelling to Asia. Arrival tests are still conducted at airports in some countries and the requirements for pre-departure tests differ from one country to another.

       "This requirement can be confusing and certainly has added more cost and even stress for passengers," added Dr Wee.

       Later in his speech, Dr Wee said for 2022, Malaysia is projecting an increase of between 197% and 347% year-on-year (YoY), representing between 32.6 million and 40 million air travel passengers.

       This, said Dr Wee, marks a 30% to 45% recovery from the pre-pandemic traffic levels in 2019.

       "Air cargo traffic for 2022 is forecasted to grow between 3.9% and 6.7% YoY, which translates into 21.5 billion to 22 billion FTK (freight tonne kilometres), underpinned by the progress of vaccination programme, strong growth of e-commerce, as well as increased activities in international trade (import and exports)," he said.

       "Malaysia pledges to actively continue our mission of enhancing our aviation ecosystem and develop a sustainable, resilient and innovative aviation sector to revive the aviation industry and rebuild connections," added Dr Wee.

       The International Air Transport Authority (Iata) has forecasted international air travel to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels by 2023.

       Meanwhile, in a panel discussion, Dr Wee said based on statistics as of March 29, there were only 7,923 passengers, or less than 7% arriving in Malaysia who tested positive for Covid-19, out of a total of 115,646 passengers.

       "These statistics were vital in guiding the government's decision to reopen Malaysia's borders and further helped to build confidence and public support for Malaysia's reopening to all international travellers on April 1," added Dr Wee.

       Dr Wee also said Malaysia is hoping for crude palm oil (CPO) to be accepted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as an eligible fuel that can be used by aircrafts.

       Being one of the biggest palm oil producers in the world, Dr Wee said Malaysia has introduced the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification scheme in 2013 to address global concerns on the sustainable production of palm oil, such as biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions.

       However, Dr Wee said that CPO does not meet the criteria to qualify as eligible fuel under the ICAO's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia).

       "In view of this, the Malaysian government hopes that CPO will be included as an acceptable feedstock under Corsia in the future," added Dr Wee.