Here is what you have to know about Iata’s Travel Pass
21 December, 2020
The International Air Transport Association is creating a digital health pass to prove passengers have tested negative for Covid-19 or have already been vaccinated.
Iata disclosed key top features of the application, which is called the Travel Pass.
The app may help revive international travel as demand for flights remains weak despite vaccine breakthroughs. Overall, international passenger demand in October was 87.8 % lower than it had been in the same month last year, according to Iata.
Travel Pass is something that both travellers and governments can trust and “has been built with data security, convenience and verification as top priorities”, according to Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and leader.
Here are several of the application’s features:
What is the Iata Travel Pass?
This is a mobile app to help travellers securely manage their journeys in line with government requirements that require testing or info on a person’s Covid-19 vaccine status..
How is Iata building the pass?
Iata is developing the pass in four independent stages.
They are the maintenance of records for regulatory entry requirements and information linked to test centres, verified certificate issuances, digital identity and the opportunity for passengers to talk about their test outcomes through their cellular devices.
Iata can be partnering with select laboratories worldwide to securely link test outcomes to the verified identity of a pass holder.
“We are building the pass with one aim ... to greatly help reconnect our world safely,” said Nick Careen, Iata’s senior vice president for airport, passenger, cargo and security.
Is Travel Pass safe to use?
All information, including test results and vaccination reports, will be encrypted and stored on the traveller’s smartphone. Users can control what information is shared from their phone with airlines and authorities.
“By keeping travellers 100 % in control of their information, the highest standards for data privacy are ensured … no central database or data repository is storing the info,” Iata said.
How do potential users experience using the app?
Travellers are prepared to share their personal information if it makes travelling safe, according to Iata, which represents about 300 airlines worldwide.
Seven in 10 passengers had concerns about handing over their passport, phone or boarding pass to airline agents, security staff or government officials at airports, Iata said, citing a survey conducted in September.
About 85 % of travellers will feel safer using contactless processing facilities at airports and 44 % are willing to share personal data to allow touchless processing.
When will the Travel Pass be launched?
The first cross-border Travel Pass pilot is expected within weeks. The worldwide launch is scheduled for the first quarter of next year on both Android and iOS mobile os's.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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