KHALEEJ TIMES, Tuesday, Jan 19, 2021 | Jamadi Al Thani 6, 1442
Flying amid Covid: UAE airline launches 'digital passport'
Emirates:
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Etihad Airways,
the national airline of the UAE, today announced a partnership to launch the
IATA Travel Pass for Etihad Airways’ guests.
The IATA Travel Pass is a mobile app to help passengers easily and securely
manage their travel in line with government requirements for Covid-19 tests or
vaccines.
IATA Travel Pass will initially be offered to Etihad’s guests on selected
flights from Abu Dhabi in the first quarter of 2021. If successful, the pass
will be extended to other destinations on the Etihad network.
The IATA Travel Pass will enable Etihad’s guests to create a ‘digital passport’
to receive Covid test results and verify they are eligible to undertake their
journey.
Importantly, IATA Travel Pass will keep passengers in control of their data and
facilitate the sharing of their test with airlines and authorities for travel.
It will also make it convenient for passengers to manage travel documentation
throughout their journey.
“Covid-19 tests and vaccinations will be key to get the world flying again.
Since 1 August 2020, Etihad is the only airline requiring a pre-departure
negative PCR test result for all passengers worldwide, and again on arrival in
Abu Dhabi, giving our guests the added assurance of safety when they travel with
us. A high priority for Etihad is for our guests to have an easy, secure and
efficient way to identify and verify their information. Being one of the first
airlines globally working with IATA as a pioneer partner on the IATA Travel Pass
is a big step forward for Etihad’s guests and for the industry,” said Mohammad
Al Bulooki, Chief Operating Officer, Etihad Aviation Group.
Etihad has been actively exploring the roll out of digital health certification
for its guests, and this latest partnership with IATA, alongside similar
programmes the airline has in development, shows the technology is advancing
quickly to make it a reality.
To standardise the way in which passenger wellness can be assured during the
Covid-19 pandemic, at an industry level, Etihad is actively campaigning for
collaboration and a united regulatory response to restore confidence in flying.
“The Etihad Airways partnership to launch the IATA Travel Pass is an important
milestone on the road to meaningfully restarting international travel. Our aim
is to give all governments the confidence to re-open borders to travellers based
on verified vaccine and testing data. The initial stage of the Etihad launch
will focus on all four elements of the IATA Travel Pass modules, one of the
first airlines in the world to do so,” said Nick Careen, IATA's Senior Vice
President, Airport, Passenger, Cargo and Security.
IATA Travel Pass has been developed as four independent modules that can
interact with each other. These modules cover registries for regulatory entry
requirements and labs/test centers, verified certificate issuance, digital
identity and the possibility for passengers to share their tests results along
their journey via their mobile device.
These modules can work together as one complete end-to-end solution. Or they can
be used separately to complement systems that others are building. IATA has
developed these modules to ensure they are interoperable with other industry
solutions.
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