With APAC air travel at 5% of 2019 levels, need for “globally accepted framework” is acute.
THE IATA Travel Pass, currently in pilot phase with Singapore Airlines, IAG Group, Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways, and targeted for launch by March, will hopefully give confidence to governments and health authorities to open their borders without the requirement of quarantine.
Asked if it would be the “magic bullet” the industry is wishing for, Vinoop Goel, regional director, airports and external relations Asia Pacific, said the “magic bullet” will be testing and vaccines.
The “magic bullet” for the industry will be testing and vaccines, says Vinoop Goel.
“Testing and vaccines are critical. IATA Travel Pass will make it easy for authorities to check if passengers have adhered to their rules and requirements and by so doing, give them confidence to open borders without quarantine.”
IATA is not alone in trying to create a digital health passport to restart travel – the Commons Project and the World Economic Forum are working together on the CommonPass – but with the association representing some 290 airlines comprising 82% of global air traffic, it is hoping it will take the lead in this Herculean task of restarting aviation.
In the Middle East, prior to a full roll out, Emirates will implement phase 1 in Dubai for the validation of Covid-19 PCR tests before departure. In this initial phase, expected to begin in April Emirates customers travelling from Dubai will be able to share their Covid-19 test status directly with the airline even before reaching the airport through the app, which will then auto-populate the details on the check-in system.
In Singapore, the Travel Pass is being used by Singapore Airlines on its routes from Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. That’s the initial scope, it will be expanded to two-ways and other routes, depending on bilateral arrangements.
“The challenge is standardisation”
And therein lies the greatest challenge – the IATA Travel Pass aims to wrap a standardised ecosystem around travel but “the challenge is standardisation. There are multiple different players, different rules, different layers – there is no global standard but lots of local requirements and the environment is changing rapidly. The IATA Travel Pass is a step towards establishing a globally accepted framework,” said Goel.
But while waiting for the situation to play out, building blocks can be put in place.
The IATA Travel Pass will comprise four modules.
• Registry of Health requirements
Enables passengers to find accurate information on travel, testing and vaccine requirements for their journey, powered by IATA Timatic
• Registry of Testing/Vaccination Centres
Enables passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing/vaccination requirements of their destination
• Lab App
Enables authorised labs and test centers to securely send test results or vaccination certificates to passengers
• Contactless Travel App
– Enables passengers to (1) create a ‘digital passport’, (2) verify their test/vaccination meets the regulations & (3) shares test or vaccination certificates with authorities to facilitate travel.
– Can be used by travelers to manage travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout the travel experience.
Built on open source standards it can either be used as a standalone app or embedded within an airline app, and airlines can choose to use one or all four modules.
Asked if there were any lessons to be learnt from the initial pilot, Goel said it was still early days but “early stakeholder engagement is critical given that this is all new, so it’s good to involve them early”.
The project is being funded internally and Goel said “the intention is to keep costs as low as possible. It is meant to serve as a catalyst for the industry”.
It is also speaking to distribution players such as GDSes to see how the pass can be embedded into the booking or departure control systems of airlines.
“Today, the issue is we do recognise governments need to protect their citizens. Some have done it in a calibrated way, depending on routes, but there’s a whole slew of different rules and restrictions and that’s pretty daunting.
“We want to provide a framework and ability for passengers and airlines to work off a database so travellers know what the requirements are, and airlines and government agencies will be able to verify their credentials.
“Imagine the immigration officer now who has to know all the rules and they are changing and at such short notice. We need an automated solution. IATA has already been in the space for immigration through Timatic and we can use that to power testing rules, as well as prevent fraud.”
Recovery projected for 2024 provided …
Goel disagreed with the notion that global travel associations have largely failed in their collective response to a global crisis such as Covid. At IATA, he said, the whole organisation had to change its agenda and focused on “what do we need to ensure survival of the industry”.
“At the initial outbreak, it was to call on governments to support the industry and for governments to provide financial support, otherwise we will see airlines fail. Now it’s facilitating safe travel and helping the industry towards recovery and reopening of borders.”
Goel said this was particularly acute in Asia Pacific where cross-border air travel is at 5% of what it used to be. “International travel in APAC has suffered the most,” he said.
IATA is projecting that air travel will recover in 2024 on the assumption that some borders will open by June.
“This means real opening with little or no quarantine and the Travel Pass will give governments and passengers the confidence that appropriate measures have been verified and validated.”
More on the the IATA Travel Pass in this video. Have a watch.
• Featured image credit: Chalabala/Getty Images
