A full and growing need the strongest typhoon to hit the country and perhaps the world this year and earlier today there was an advisory that word top government officials spoke where they talked about preemptive measures that about 19000000 people are actually going to be affected by this typhoon and that here in manila the impact can only be felt late into sunday police in hong kong have arrested 7 prodemocracy politicians on charges related to a Legislative Council meeting more than 5 months ago the group is accused of contempt and obstructing Ascension Police have not ruled out making more arrests rescue crews in turkey are working to save people trapped under the rubble in its meaning a powerful earthquake on friday hit the western turkish province on the greek island of some most triggering a small tsunami at least 51 people have been killed and hundreds more injured. Turkish president rest of the burden arrived in his mail on saturday night he visited the site of collapsed buildings and spoke to search and rescue workers. 2 people being killed and 5 others injured during a knife attack in Eastern Canada it happened in quebec city in the early hours of sunday morning a mans in Custody Police have asked for information on a man armed with a blade and dressed in mediaval clothing algerians are voting in a constitutional referendum on whether to reform a decades old political system its part of efforts by the new government to respond to demands from protesters and u. S. President ial candidates are making their final push for votes in battleground States Donald trump is in pennsylvania joe biden is on the road with barack obama in michigan the election is tuesday those are the headlines of course have more news for you in half an hour next starters there its talk to aljazeera to stay with us. Its one of the most consequential elections in u. S. History and ill just there will be there every step of the way 9 hours of live coverage up to the minute results as they come in with correspondents across the u. S. And the rest of the world aljazeera brings you a unique global perspective on the u. S. Elections 2020. See. The covered 900 pandemic has claimed more than a 1000000 lives worldwide governments are at a crossroads as a 2nd wave threatens more travel restrictions. Many industries are reporting enormous losses particularly the Airline Industry its been devastated as airports shut down entire fleets are grounded and pilots cabin crew and support staff sent home or made redundant the losses continue to soar the International Air transport Association Says the commercial aviation sector is losing around 300000. 00 every minute governments around the world have injected around 160000000000. 00 into struggling carriers but government aid may just be a temporary solution Airline Executives are hoping that science is their salvation could a Rapid Testing system predeparture be the answer to guaranteeing passenger safety and until then how will the Aviation Industry survive alexandra de director general and chief executive of the International Air transport association talks to al jazeera. The director general and c. E. O. Of the International Air transport association. Thank you for talking to aljazeera. Important moment now when one of your recent briefings you said stay strong we will get through this crisis the world connected but the world has been more disconnected than ever the Airline Industry is in crisis due to the pandemic so how do you keep it connected. Thats thats a very good question you know the 19 crosses as our lead to our disconnected world. In our times now we are facing a lot of trouble restrictions and particularly quarantine measures that are stopping travel its a complete deterrent for travelers to take a flight if they face a risk of quarantine either destination or. When they come back home so what we are asking the government is that its absolutely necessary for the traffic to restart and to restart dynamically and to do that we ask government to remove the travel restrictions of quarantine measures and we are proposing a safe process to ensure that there is no virus transmission between state plus the fact that for travelers the risk of catching the virus on board is absolutely minimal according to various studies we have. Published here pushing for pre departure testing whats known as Rapid Testing thats high on your agenda how do you see that working you know we fully understand that governments want to protect the population from you know he not importing 19 and so the implemented a lot of trouble restrictions and quarantine measures but we said these measures are useless provided we implement those strong Testing Process at departure so it would be a test based mainly on and t. J. End of p. C. R. That tests that are now highly sensitive are reliable they are farce that they can be read in less than 15 minutes they are Cost Effective other courses around 7. 00 or. 7 swiss franc per test this can be produce invariably quantities of millions per day so adapted to the needs of the world and the need of transport so its a perfect system to ensure that flying is safe and that the risk of free importing the virus is absolutely minimal because you fly people who have been tested negative so you would be tested at the airport if you are tested positive you dont fly if you are tested negative you fly but you fly. Normally nor virus or a risk of having the virus which is so minimal that we are sure that the countries can come without quarantine or without restriction the travelers and without you know putting the population of triscuit by you know having imported infected people that would you know restart the pandemic in their own control way so it is a way to maintain the pandemic and strict control and to minimize the risk that the reason why we say that that that system for travel which is absolutely key if you want a Strong Economy recovery ok you raise a few important points which ill get to including the issue of reliability and who is actually going to pay for this but let me ask you this 1st for this system to work presumably you need some sort of global standard so as you director general of i asked how would support Airline Activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards what does this global standard look like to you. You have to is right to say that we need a global standard we because we need the process to be a more genius and to be equally. Applied everywhere in the world we are suffering today of travel restrictions and quarantine that are totally adopted in that hectic non control. Non corporative way its so you neutral measures taken by the states in an expected and control manner so we are working within the i. K. O. International Civil Aviation organization to set up a Global Recovery and asian that would be this process this recommendation would have to be adopted and implemented by states but it would be similar it would be the the recommended standard for passenger testing and we are pretty optimistic that when i will have are adopted that with a very strong contribution of the Health Community really w. H. O. Or Health Authorities in various countries it will be adopted broadly and similarly. Everywhere in the world we have to rely on a very solid and roberts daters so all of that takes time but we are pretty optimistic to achieve a very. Serious complete consistent. Recombination and standard potential standard and then the deployment could start in various countries and how do you convince governments that this is the right approach Going Forward when as youve been saying governments have been imposing quarantine measures and closing their borders because they believe that this is in the best interest of their citizens. Perves i can explain how we work 1st of all we work with the medical community we work with w. H. O. To establish a very strong case a strong database that that is that shows that demonstrates you know the robbers nurse the valid it is the safety. Of the process it is partly based on current experience experiments that are done in many parts of the world in many airports by Many Airlines and we so we call it data and we try to identify. To show that. The cases are strong and the process is robust 1st or 2nd the within i. Q. We are working with government or ikea is an International Body that gathers governments so we are already discussing with governments so if i kill adopt this set of measures it is because the governments have voted in favor of these measures 2nd 3rd and we are also working bilaterally with 21 government 21 states to convince them to present a solution and convince them and to our explain. The solution convince them that it is the right solution that is particularly safe and adapt it to travel and to fight against corby 19 and to reduce to something very very small a minimal the risk of transferring the virus and let me ask you about any challenges you foresee because surely there can be a little logistical challenges at least. No im not very you know worried about logistical challenges because we know how to cope with these challenges whether its at the port you know to or to set up or probably tempore. Buildings on tens or whatever to organize a testing of the airport for instance. If we if we talk about distribution of the of the virus you know we are specialists in not just sticks and particularly in. Distributing you know drugs medicine medical equipments its 11 of the key contribution of our cargo activities of north to do that. So im not im not worried that from a logistical point to you i will make it just. To remind you offer. After the 911 we implemented security measures everywhere in the world and now they are working perfectly worley it has been done pretty pretty quickly. And pretty successfully on the issue of the payment i know that its been a Sticking Point over who will actually pay for these rapid tests and you yourself support governments paying for these tests but do you think governments are really in a position right now to be shelling out sums of money for this when theyre dealing with this corona virus pandemic. But there are 23. 00 points but 1st of all we are approaching a price or cost. Issue remember 7 u. S. Dollars per test that is affordable 1st of all secondly. Cording to International Earth regulation which has been issued by w. H. O. Normally these type of measures of hold a Safety Measures imposed by governments should be paid by governments so we should comply with what the government themselves have adopted within their organization w. H. O. Thirdly you know we understand that there will be discussions of course between governments poured lines to see we share the burden we said no well its governments who pays but im sure that you know you will see some. Contributions coming from various parties im not very worried its its achievable because the price of the cost is is now affordable let me ask you about then the reliability which you were talking about a moment ago i am not asking here for a medical point of view of course but just something that was put out by i. K. O. As takeoff guidelines that i know youre aware off this was a few months ago when the guidelines said that rapid tests cannot be a precondition for travel due to their unreliability and impracticability so are you saying that now the rapid tests have evolved more and that youre not concerned about their accuracy. A lot of the what you write is a not a medical specialist but what we are working very closely with the medical community and the pharmaceutical companies and laboratories what we see its absolutely clear and certified that the testing the test for the korean 1000 test of significance. Really improve especially the Rapid Testing through antigen no no the we understand that the reliability that has been reached by police to very big pharmaceutical groups is above 97 percent around 98 percent sure the sensitivity to be very precise at this level the risk of having you know false tests or wrong testing is absolutely minimal expressly when you course the other police should let you test. And so we are of the levels that are considered as reliable and safe for this type of process so yes the industry has improved and we should take advantage of this improvements that the other 4 that has in effect in the other points that have significantly improved are the costs that has been you know reduced by 20 year. Secondly the production rate the industry is able to produce millions of tests per day which correspond to the order of magnitude of what the world needs and what the aviation is if people are to fly between countries of course passengers must feel safe now that the c. D. C. Guidelines still urges avoiding travel as much as possible but what does your own research or your own eye at a research tell you about Consumer Sentiment and passenger willingness to fly. What we have in our surveys is is a 2 to very interesting results 1st of all 84 percent of passengers. Are considering that. Testing is a safe way of ensuring that there is no risk. The same the same percentage of passengers say that they are ready to include this test this testing step in their own. Journey so we are pretty optimistic about you know the acceptability viewed from the passenger of of testing our testing system lets move on to the industry as a whole and you said that the even with the restarts the industry still needs a financial boost i was reading that one of the analysts was describing the past few months as armageddon for the Airline Industry so why do you believe that a financial boost is the right course of action on behalf of governments and whats at stake of this aid is not forthcoming. You know 1st of all i must say that governments for the during the 1st step of the pandemic have reacted very positively and theyre injected through various means grants or on subsidies wage subsidies are various instruments something around 160000000000. 00 u. S. Dollars in our industry without that this industry would have been completely erase from the from the surface of this planet so its absolutely critical it was absolutely critical as we stood in in the coming months we do not see a significant recovery. You must know that our traffic figures been reduced again we expect the traffic to be 38 percent of the 29000. 00 level by the end of 2020 and just another not another figure the International Traffic has dropped by 90 percent so we desperately need the extension of Government Support of financial Government Support that absolutely critical for us and it will last for months for us to be able to bridge the gap between the Current Situation which is a task for free and something which would be more quote unquote normal coming back to its a reasonable figures of traffic and of revenues and of cash right but even with the bailouts that weve seen mr. Airlines some some i should say airlines have had to go into administration and they have declared bankruptcy as a result of this pandemic so is it time that the entire industry is looked at through restructuring rather than just bailouts. But 1st of all the industry as done messy of us are showing you have seen you know enormous layoffs. The firm laws. Shrinking in the. In the size of companies in the number of employees and the number of so those folks showing is ongoing and i can tell you its a tough one is that the toughest we have ever had. By the way so we are doing that the 2nd step is to see whether the industry will probably restructure globally so for instance if you know the the the weakest loans could be buyout by the strongest or if you can see you know when they are consultation but its probable that we will see that we will see consolidation happening you know and being you know the the the continuation of the current internal Research Showing that are already very top of. Difficult time for people and. For if you look at the regions lets drill down into the specific regions for a moment so look at the african continent for example 4 and a half 1000000 jobs lost in aviation there in an industry supported by its. Position in africa where we might see only half the Airlines Flying after this crisis whats the outlook for africa for you. You know not a very good outlook you know a lot of companies are in a very bad situation and some of the you know most most of our 4 Biggest Companies are in difficult position but africa is not the only continent and with the situation is difficult or probably one of the one of the continent in which the situation is probably the most worrisome we have also some questions of. On the latin america in which no Big Companies are not in bankruptcy but just in the chapter 11 phase of the for the operation. But there are also areas of optimism you know we see in asia the traffic kick up going in a particular in china in which we are now you know catching up with 29000. 00 figures for the domestic market so it shows that if fly flying is allowed if passengers the right to take a flight without being restricted or with a without being put in quarantine their appetite to fly is still pretty strong and that makes me optimistic at the end of the day what about the middle east are you optimistic about this region because according to i autos own research 1700000 jobs will be lost in aviation and industry supported by aviation in the year 2020 but of course we know here in the middle east the airlines are all state owned so that really gives them an advantage over others when they want to secure a bailout packages. Its true that in the region some of the biggest you know of strong support from the authorities. Receive ferns and support by any means so we not worried about the survival of many islands in the region. The we have seen similar measures you know in other continents even those who are not seeing you know state intervention as the. Who way of of doing business know in north america you have seen you know and the intervention plan through which subsidy that is absolutely massive in europe Many Alliance have been heavily strongly supported by their by their National Authorities so its a movement that has been almost everywhere and of course your own organization i as a had to cut its Global Headcount by more than 20 percent or so the pandemic youre also predicting passenger numbers to return to preplan demick levels only by the year 2023 let me ask you on a personal note and as head of this crucial body on airlines how did you deal with the lock down and when countries started closing their borders and when you realized that this industry was in major freefall and turbulence. You know in february we have anticipated that the crisis. Was going to to come not at this level i have to admit but the crisis was was arriving then in march and april and may so we we ask our employees everywhere in the world to work or to work from home so we completely transform our way of working and unfortunately in may and june we decided that it was impossible you know to continue at the same level because. Revenues were dropping so we decided to restructure and as you mentioned we are going to implement a very strong showing plan thats a tough period for everybody in the industry and top particularly. If you asked me for me because its always difficult and painful. And you say that you didnt realize the impact it would have back in february so when did you realize how destructive this was going to be for aviation already in march when when you know the log down was generalized all over the world and so were when we change our way of working when people you know went home to do to do to their working when we saw the magnitude of the drop in traffic we realized that the crisis was going to be terrible so we we change we shift it into a crisis mode and now we are living in a crisis mode now for 67 months you know meeting every day. And making the assessment of the situation taking measures helping our lives being governments moving. To ensure that we are ready to restart so its 247. Dedication and involvement and commitment and did you think however that months after the pandemic hit that air travel would still be stalled. You know it will take time you know for us to to. To we start. We are urging government no to lift you know the troubles sections because they are the main obstacle for the start of our trouble if we had no quarantine in no trouble restriction or border closures you know travel would really start you know realizing on earth roberson strong and safe health and Health Process and systematic. Passage attesting so and we are the government to move but it will take time but what makes me optimistic at the end of the day that the appetite to fly is there when restrictions are removed people are coming back to fly again to enjoy these fantastic freedom we are offering them lets lets end this interview then on on an optimistic note do you see an opportunity in all of the stagnation. There are. 2 opportunities 1st of all is. The to have restructured industry at the end which will be more effective more efficient more competitive so and that would be good not only for the industry before the present as well 1st of all and secondly to see the need for all of the stronger collaboration cooperation between between governments and between government in the industry when there is a crisis time which happens regularly and which need very close coordination cooperation and working together and thats absolutely key a director general and c. E. O. Of International Air transport association. Thank you for talking to aljazeera. Thank you very much. Jump into this story and julian on Global Community bio diversity is biosecurity is that essential for our species to survive be part of the debate i know you have ninetys and you too can be part of this conversation when no topic is off the table the police are not neutral and all of these case goal here is to terrorize and heres the other part of this theres no consequence this stream on out is the. Secret agent claimed by both israel and egypt well in the case of. The double agent always assume the worst truth or lies fact or fiction most of the documents are full of people 5 year old student and aljazeera well tells the story of a man and many secrets money won the super spy on aljazeera. Super typhoon sweeps into the philippines at least 4 people have been killed. The whole robin youre watching aljazeera lies my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 30 Minutes Police in hong kong arrest 7 prodemocracy politicians over a protest during a Legislative Council meeting in maine. Also a scene of devastation the turkish president visits the site of collapsed buildings in