Aviation is one of the worst-hit industries by the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines around the globe that have been affected by this unexpected health crisis are surviving on government aids or, in some cases, slashing the workforce to keep them from going bankrupt.

Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), suggested governments to replace current quarantine policies on international arrivals with effective testing systems before departure to bring customers back on airplanes.

Data from the IATA shows passenger demand in July continued to be sluggish – 79.8 percent below the level seen in the same period of last year. It was better than the 86.6-percent year-on-year decline recorded in June, primarily driven by domestic markets, most notably Russia and China.

Market reopening in the Schengen Area boosted international demand in Europe, but other international markets showed little change from June. However, the IATA believes demand for travel is solid. "The appetite for flying is still strong," said de Juniac, adding that "the drop in traffic is mainly coming from government restrictions on borders."

Governments and airlines have adopted a set of preventive measures including temperature check, obligatory mask on board, air filtration and cleaning services to ensure travel safety for passengers. But these measures are not enough to revive the struggling aviation industry.

"We are asking governments to replace quarantine measures by testing systems for passengers. That would reduce the risk to a level that governments would be sure of not importing the virus," said de Juniac.

With recovery so far out of sight, some airlines have devised creative new offerings such as "flights to nowhere", which is substantially a sightseeing trip in the air. In some cases, "flights to nowhere" don't even leave the land but offer a virtual-flying experience to travel-hungry individuals.

However, according to de Juniac, "flights to nowhere" is a not good idea. "It's completely a minority issue. The key issue is to put our aircraft back in the sky to serve routes with passengers inside," he asserted.