IATA 2020: Day 1 – The Travel Passport

The first day’s highlight of International Air Transport Association's (IATA) virtual Annual General Meeting and Conference last Monday (23 November) was a presentation by Alan Murray Hayden, Head of Airport Passenger and Security, on what it termed “The Travel Pass” or might be better termed “The Digital Passport”, a digital health pass that will support the safe reopening of borders.

Working closely on the project is the International Airlines Group (IAG) who will undertake a trial of the system.

The app can also be used by travellers to manage travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout their journey, improving travel experience.

The first cross-border IATA Travel Pass pilot is scheduled for later this year and the launch slated for quarter one 2021.

The idea is that there should be systematic Covid-19 testing for all international travellers.

For this to be effective there needs to be what IATA describes as an “information flow infrastructure” allowing:

• Governments to verify the authenticity of tests and the identity of those presenting the test certificates.

• Airlines to provide accurate information to their passengers on test requirements and verify that a passenger meets the requirements for travel.

• Laboratories to issue digital certificates to passengers that will be recognised by governments.

• Travellers to access accurate information on test requirements, where they can get tested or vaccinated, and the means to securely convey test information to airlines and border authorities.

IATA’s Travel Pass incorporates four open sourced and interoperable modules which can be combined for an “end-to-end solution”:

• Global registry of health requirements – enabling passengers to find accurate information on travel, testing and eventually vaccine requirements for their journey.

• Global registry of testing / vaccination centres – enables passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.

• Lab App – enables authorised labs and test centres to securely share test and vaccination certificates with passengers.

• Contactless Travel App – enables passengers to create a ‘digital passport’, receive test and vaccination certificates to verify that they are sufficient for their itinerary.

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