With Covid-19 restrictions remaining in place, IATA, International Air Transport Association, has decided to put in place a Covid-19 travel pass to facilitate traveling during the current situation.
With borders being closed or having many restrictions, travelers struggle to travel freely due to the sanitary situation. The idea of the digitalized travel pass would be to enable people to travel safely with the right documentation.
According to IATA: “This will be important for governments which are likely to require either verified testing or vaccination proof as a condition of international travel during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The IATA Travel Pass will be more secure and efficient than current paper processes used to manage health requirements.”
Many comments have been made on the privacy of the app and all of the information that will be stored in it. IATA has confirmed that a person’s privacy will be protected and will be compliant with the different privacy policies of different countries. Any information that will be disclosed is up to the passenger.
“The IATA Travel Pass does not store any data centrally. It simply links entities that need verification (airlines and governments) with the test or vaccination data when travelers permit.”
“Travelers always remain in control of their data with their privacy protected.”
In order to travel, people will have to be either vaccinated per the government’s wishes or they will have to be tested.
An IATA worker said: “We aren’t saying that this is the sole product but at least it is an industry solution made by airlines who are living in a sector that has many rules and regulations.”
The app is being tested and trialed by different airline companies such as Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad, and many more. According to IATA, 50 airlines signed up to trial the pass as of April 26th. For the IATA pass to work properly, authorities need to accept it as proof for testing. The idea is still new so the app has just been released on the app store.
