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The global airline lobby IATA is working on a mobile app that will help travelers demonstrate their coronavirus-free status, joining a push to introduce so-called Covid passports to accelerate the revival of international travel.
The Travel Pass will show the test results along with the inoculation test, as well as a list of national entry rules and details of the closest labs, according to the International Air Transport Association. The application will also be linked to an electronic copy of the holder’s passport to prove their identity.
This year it will begin a trial program with British Airways’ parent company IAG SA before arriving on Apple Inc. devices in the first quarter of 2021 and on Android starting in April, IATA said. Travelers will be able to share their status with border authorities or present a QR code to scan.
“We need to have global rules and standards” on measures like rapid tests and vaccination so that there can be a “step forward” for the industry, Pieter Elbers, director of the Dutch division of Air France-KLM, said on a Bloomberg TV. interview on Tuesday. Advances in health “will definitely help restore confidence in travel.”
Qantas Airways Ltd said that a Covid-19 vaccine will be a must for its international passengers when it is approved and distributed. Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce told Channel 9 in Australia that he has discussed the idea with other airlines and it is likely to become a prerequisite to boarding around the world.
“It’s going to be a common theme across the board,” Joyce said.
While international travel remains stalled amid a patchwork of local restrictions and closures, countries are beginning to embrace trials to shorten or eliminate quarantines for arriving passengers. Meanwhile, the first vaccines are expected to be available in the coming months.
That sparked a series of tech-driven moves to devise mechanisms to monitor travelers’ Covid credentials and combat false claims from people desperate to fly.
In the UK, the industry also got a boost from the government’s decision to reduce the 14-day quarantine for arrivals to England from high-risk countries by nearly two-thirds if they undergo a coronavirus test. The easing of restrictions from December 15 will come just in time for the Christmas rush.
IATA’s head of passenger and safety products Alan Murray Hayden said in a briefing that the group’s goal is to get people flying again and that he would be happy to work together with other providers.
Travel Pass will be free for travelers and governments, and airlines will pay a small fee per passenger to use the service. It will be based on the IATA Timatic system that has long been used to verify documents. The app will use blockchain technology and will not store data, Murray Hayden said.
The industry group has had positive discussions with a government on the use of the software and hopes other nations will join in, he said.
More applications
Although the IATA plan is still under development, the CommonPass app developed by the World Economic Forum and the non-profit Commons Project Foundation has been tested on flights between London and New York, while the travel security firm’s AOKpass International SOS is in use between Abu Dhabi and Pakistan.
Both are in the race for the pending travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore, according to the companies.
United Airlines, which is conducting testing between the United States and the United Kingdom, said Monday that it will extend Covid-19 testing to flights from Houston to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Passengers can take a self-compiled mail-in test, allowing them to begin their vacations or meetings immediately upon arrival.
The race is on to set a global standard and implement technology so the travel industry can bounce back, International SOS co-founder Arnaud Vaissie said in an interview.
“There is a massive pent-up demand,” he said. There is also “a tremendous fear of traveling and this is what we are trying to mitigate.”
Read: Level 1 Lock Changes Planned for Travel in South Africa
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