THE Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and an update on how businesses in these sectors are adapting and resetting as they prepare for post-pandemic travel.
VietJet, Malindo Air join IATA Travel Pass trial
With IATA Travel Pass set to go live in the coming weeks more airlines are joining in the trial phase – the latest being Vietnam’s Vietjet and Malaysia’s Malindo Air.
International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general Willie Walsh said in a Reuters report the feedback to the testing has been very positive. “We expect to go live out of the testing mode in the next couple of weeks.”
The mobile app was originally designed for travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for Covid-19 tests or vaccines at the airport check-in and aircraft boarding stages. However, IATA has since modified the app for when passengers are also checked by immigration officers on arrival.
Currently, 41 airlines are trailing the travel pass.
Vietjet will soon begin trial of IATA Travel Pass on its international flights, although it did not disclose when the test will start or on which routes.
IATA said it has been working with Vietjet and relevant Vietnamese authorities to ensure the product could support and facilitate safe international travel.
The carrier requires its passenger to download the app before making a flight, fill in the information and take a Covid test at designated facilities. They will receive an “OK to Travel” if their travel health credentials meet the destination’s requirements.
“Vietjet strongly believes that with IATA Travel Pass our passengers will get the best experience on their upcoming travels,” said the airline’s managing director Dinh Viet Phuong
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Malindo Air said the trial “is a step towards making travel more convenient, enabling travellers to manage Covid-19 related documentation digitally, safely and seamlessly throughout the travel experience.”
Eligible passengers are invited to download the app and enrol for the digital travel pass ahead of their travels. The airline has partnered with selected healthcare labs that are authorised to securely send test results to passengers via the app. In future, travellers may also share vaccination certificates with authorities and airlines to facilitate travel.
The trial is being carried out on selected flights, and will be rolled out on all international routes, although dates and routes have not been specified.
“The ability to process passengers’ Covid-19 relevant data for travel digitally will be the way forward. We will support the introduction of other initiatives to further enhance customer experience,” said Captain Mushafiz Mustafa Bakri, CEO of Malindo Air.
On the airlines’ participation in the trial Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president airport, passenger, cargo and security, said it was “a vote of confidence and credibility for IATA Travel Pass, and a positive step forward towards restarting international aviation.”
Sabre teams up with GOPASS Global to reduce travel risks
Sabre Corporation has entered into a partnership with Singapore-based travel health risk management specialist GOPASS Global to provide the travel industry with Covid biosecurity risk analytics capabilities.
Sabre said the GOPASS solutions use advanced analytics to deliver a single view of all of the biosecurity risk elements of a trip, thus instilling confidence in travellers.
Under the partnership, GOPASS’ Travel Risk Optimizer tool is integrated with Sabre’s GDS via its shopping APIs. Through this integration GOPASS populates a quantifiable risk score onto each travel option and displays the information to agents, who are then able to better advise their customers. Agents worldwide have access to these travel risk management capabilities via the Sabre Developer Partner platform.
Powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, GOPASS Travel Risk Optimizer provides travellers with an end-to-end analysis of all aspects of travel and their risk exposure in the cycle of travel, including arrival and exit restrictions, flight routes and transit, airports, airline and aircraft type, seat class and travel advisories.
Data from GOPASS also looks at country conditions such as infection rates, government policies and data reliability. Putting this all together, agents can obtain a risk score out of 10 per flight itinerary, enabling them to clearly identify the lowest risk rates overall.
“For the travel industry to open up, recover and grow it is vital that we are able to reduce and mitigate the risk of travel so we can instill renewed confidence in travel for both the leisure and corporate traveller,” said Mark Radford, CEO of GOPASS Global.
“It’s clear leisure travellers want to know about potential travel risks so they can avoid or mitigate them. But this is especially critical for corporate travel as we learn to live with this pandemic. Companies need to ensure they are taking their duty of care to employees seriously when it comes to travel. It’s essential, therefore, that travel agents and, ultimately travellers, have all of the critical information they need at their fingertips when planning their trip to make the decisions that are right for them.”
Pelago offers more activities for Singapore’s experience-seekers
As Singapore gradually eases its restrictions, Singapore Airlines’ travel experiences platform Pelago has expanded its range of activities for experience-seekers in the city-state.
Currently there are more than more than 200 curated experiences ranging from food and drink, art and culture, hidden gems and popular attractions. Among then are Dale Chihuly: Glass In Bloom exhibition at Gardens By The Bay, cooking class in a pre-war shophouse in Chinatown, Tanglin Gin Distillery tour plus gin tasting, rainforest night expedition and glamping at Kampung Kampus, an organic farm. More activities will be added in the coming months.
Pelago said the content is written by an in-house team of journalists. All the experiences are bookable, allowing consumers to build a customised itinerary based on what they read. Consumers can also explore the site through different topics such as food and drink, art and culture, hidden gems and popular attractions.
When international travel conditions normalise consumers will also be able to access collaborative planning tools on Pelago to plan their trip itineraries.
“Think of Pelago as a travel magazine that you can be inspired by and book directly on the platform,” said its CEO Siddharth Shanker. “We have carefully selected a wide range of experiences that will appeal to consumers with diverse interests and passions. Although many aspects of travel have changed, we hope to enable people to embark on adventures and experience different cultures in the city we live in.”
Pelago offers flexible cancellations and refund policies. In addition, KrisFlyer members can pay for their bookings directly on the platform with KrisFlyer miles and also earn KrisFlyer miles for every booking.
• Featured image credit: IATA
