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IATA digital vaccine passport ‘ready within weeks’
Vaccine travel pass almost ready.
A new ‘vaccine passport’ app developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is due to be ready “within weeks”.
The travel pass is designed to verify a passenger has had the Covid-19 tests or vaccines required to enter a country.
It also verifies they were administered by an approved authority.
According to reports, the IATA is currently working with numerous airlines during the trial phase before getting involved with official government and health bodies.
Singapore Airlines was the first carrier to start trials of the travel pass in December, with Air New Zealand, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways set to trial the app from March or April.
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As the pandemic continues, governments are preparing to only allow vaccinated tourists to enter their respective countries.
“The key issue is one of confidence. Passengers need to be confident that the testing they’ve taken is accurate and will allow them to enter the country.” said Vinoop Goel, IATA’s regional director of airports and external relations.
“And then governments need to have the confidence that the tests that the passengers claim to have is one which is accurate and meets their own conditions.
“We are currently working with a number of airlines worldwide and learning from these pilots. And the plan is to go live in March.
“So basically we expect to have a fully functional working system over the next few weeks.”
The app will be available on Android and iOS platforms, and will be “modular” so it can be adapted to match each country’s entry requirements.
