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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced today that it will implement a so-called health passport to facilitate the crossing of borders and "contribute to the definitive reopening of the international travel market."
The initiative will be implemented as of this upcoming March 2021 under the IATA Travel Pass's official name and consists of an application for mobile devices in which passengers can store and administer test certificates for COVID-19 or the vaccine against the disease.
This way, physical documents can be avoided, which provides more security and efficiency and explains the entity in a statement.
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It will also allow health care providers to securely upload test results and vaccination certificates to users' accounts and link those documents to a traveler's identity to prevent misuse.
That information will be shown to airlines and at airports to facilitate travel and border crossing, IATA added, mentioning the advantages of the health passport.
Proud to work with @Emirates as they become one of the 1st airlines in the world to trial #IATATravelPass ✈ ����#IATATravelpass is an app to help passengers easily & securely manage their travel in line with gov #Covid_19 entry requirements. https://t.co/icS7uqup5z #Travel https://t.co/wlEndk8cBO
— IATA (@IATA) January 19, 2021
The application will start running on Apple iOS in the first quarter of 2021 and on Android in the second quarter and free for users, but airlines will pay a small fee per passenger.
The project works based on an entry requirement register and a register of laboratories, testing, and vaccination centers, as a means for passengers to securely load test or vaccination certificates onto their phones and digital identity to verify the certificate owner.
"We need a commitment from governments to accept the global standards that will make this possible," said IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac.
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