Clint Chan Tack
THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has advanced its Travel Pass app as an initiative which could help in the resumption of air travel during the covid19 pandemic.
IATA vice-president (Americas) Peter Cerda presented the initiative on Monday during a virtual meeting hosted by the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
Travel Pass tells passengers what tests, vaccines and other measures they require before travelling, details of where they can get tested, and lets them share their tests and vaccination results, in a verifiable, safe and privacy-protecting manner, with airlines and governments.
Cerda said Travel Pass “is a tool that will help bring confidence back to the travelling public.” Through Travel Pass, he continued, “The passenger is able to obtain their lab work, that has been certified by a registered lab, is sent directly to the app and then the passenger is able to forward that information to the airline, border control and the governments to be able to ready to travel.
Cerda said, “We are trying to automate the tool and create the standards that will help this application, or other applications which are in use to roll out, and make sure we have seamless, standardised and, most importantly, secure information.”
He said Panama and Copa Airlines are the first in the ACS region to sign a collaboration agreement with IATA to use Travel Pass. “We are working very closely with the government of Barbados, with Caribbean Airlines, and now Virgin Atlantic is now interested in participating in that trial.”
Cerda cited Virgin’s participation as important as a bridge between the European, North American, Latin American and Caribbean markets.
Recalling the severe challenges the pandemic has posed to global air travel, Cerda said it is important that aviation is not “a vector for the virus.”
Other airlines currently involved in…