Aviation Ministry readying airports for Sept 1 reopening

The Ministry of Aviation and its agencies have quickened steps to put in place measures necessary for the safe reopening of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to international passenger traffic by Tuesday, September 1, this year.

The preparations include the installation of seven temperature thermal scanners, floor markings to ensure social distancing, counselling units and standby ambulances at Terminal Three of the airport.

As part of the measures also, arriving passengers will be required to take a PCR test at any of the over 70 sampling collection booths set-up at the upper level of the Arrival Hall and results ready between 12-15 minutes.

A state-of-the-art laboratory, which is being set-up at the upper level of the Arrival Hall to process the samples, will transmit the results electronically to the port health stations in the main arrival hall before a passenger gets there.

The protocols put in place are to ensure adequate physical distancing, the wearing of nose masks or coverings, enhanced sanitation and disinfection, health screening, contact tracing and the use of passenger health declaration forms.

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The measures are in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO’s) Take-Off guidance for safe operations amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

An announcement on the reopening of the airport for international passenger traffic will be based on the successful testing of and simulation on the COVID-19 preventive installations tomorrow.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that, as of August 24, Rwanda and Kenya were the only African states in 100 per cent alignment with the ICAO Council’s Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations.

Other African states, such as Ghana and Togo, were more than 90 per cent compliant, while The Gambia was about 81 per cent ready.