The CityJet CEO has welcomed new advice from the European Centre for Disease Control which states that air passengers should not be automatically considered high risk for spreading Covid-19 and should be treated as members of a local population that have not had any direct contact with an infected person.
Pat Byrne told the Claire Byrne programme that the advice, issued jointly by the ECDC and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, should increase people's confidence about resuming travelling again.
Mr Byrne said it is difficult to ignore the advice, adding that it is consistent with the WHO's pandemic guidelines from 2019, which he said advocates against movement restrictions once a virus is substantially across populations.