We should be looking ahead, this International Civil Aviation Day, to the challenges of economic recovery and climate change. Instead, we’re still gripped by the devastating impact that Covid-19 continues to have of aviation workers and the industry worldwide. This was the message on the day, 7 December, from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

ITF’s message continued to inform that governments in some rich countries have put their own vaccine programmes ahead of tackling the pandemic as a global emergency, and sadly the rise of new, dangerous variants is a setback to the industry’s already fragile recovery.

Workers in aviation are paying the price for this. The knee-jerk reaction to the Omicron variant and tightening of travel restrictions begin a new wave of devastation, hitting an industry already ravaged by the pandemic.