In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic and its effects on businesses, the 16 federations members of the Global Business Coalition have drafted urgent measures to be taken by governments and authorities in order to mitigate potential harmful effects, help combat the virus and support business activity.
These smart measures are at the core of a Joint Statement issued by the GBC and signed by its President, Miguel Acevedo, on March 19th, 2020, kindly reproduced here.
The Global Business Coalition is actively engaged to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mitigate its effects on our people and markets.
Given the potential impacts of COVID-19 on the health and safety of people and global growth, we call on governments to use all appropriate policy tools to safeguard against downside health risks while also promoting strong, sustainable growth going forward.
As such, the air cargo industry plays a pivotal role in ensuring that time-critical shipments, whether life-saving medical supplies, urgent repair components or essential inputs into global supply chains, reach their destinations in a safe and timely manner. Air cargo is critical for small and medium-size enterprises, as well as multinational corporations.
Countries need to work together to keep these global air cargo networks and the critically important goods they contain moving, especially now with the economic impact of the coronavirus negatively affecting markets around the world.
We call on governments to support a global standard for addressing the circumstances of critical employees including air cargo pilots and crew members, to ensure that air cargo networks can continue to operate in a manner that is safe and secure.
Cargo carriers are working closely with leading health organizations around the world to safeguard public health while also keeping the global economy moving.
Consequently, we call on authorities to take into consideration ways in which air cargo crewmembers could be exempted from quarantine requirements by following specific governmentally designed protocols.
National governments should also consider the testing of air cargo pilots and cargo crew, if deemed necessary, to be performed with the least invasive procedures possible.
As we look to restore global economic activity, we call upon governments to establish these common sets of procedures.
Our goal is to ensure global commerce, and the air cargo networks supporting it, continue to flow and to safeguard the health of our people, including the pilots and crews who continue to serve.