IATA confirms Travel Pass *

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has challenged the World Health Organization (WHO) to revisit its work to develop a global digital vaccine standard.

At the same time it announced that the EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC) and UK NHS Covid Pass can now be uploaded into IATA Travel Pass as verified proof of vaccination for travel.

Travellers holding these passes can now access accurate Covid-19 travel information for their journey, create an electronic version of their passport and import their vaccination certificate in one place. This information can be shared with airlines and border control authorities who can have the assurance that the certificate presented to them is genuine and belongs to the person presenting it.

“Covid-19 vaccination certificates are becoming a widespread requirement for international travel. Handling the European and UK certificates through IATA Travel Pass is an important step forward, providing convenience for travellers, authenticity for governments and efficiency for airlines,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Operations Safety and Security.  

As the voice of air travel for the great majority of airlines around the globe IATA is urging the World Health Organisation (WHO) to revisit its work to develop a global digital vaccine standard.

“The absence of a global standard makes it much harder for airlines, border authorities and governments to recognise and verify a traveller’s digital vaccination certificate. The industry is working around this by developing solutions that can recognise and verify certificates from individual countries. But this is a slow process that is hampering the restart of international travel.   

“As more states roll out their vaccination programmes, many are urgently looking to implement technical solutions to provide vaccine certification for their citizens when they travel. In the absence of a WHO standard, IATA urges them to look closely at the EU DCC as a proven solution that meets WHO guidance and can help to reconnect the world,” said Careen.

www.iata.org/en/programs/passenger/travel-pass

www.who.int

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Jane Jones, Cambridge

From utterly confused of Cambridge? I’ve looked at the government website and am not much the wiser. My other half lives on Scotland. Why can’t we have one set of border rules for everyone. We all have British passports.