Sarah Young
ReutersWed, 24 Feb 2021 14:40 UTC
© REUTERS/Toby MelvilleAn aircraft takes off at Heathrow Airport amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in London, Britain, February 4, 2021.
Global airline industry body IATA said it would
launch a COVID-19 travel pass at the end of March, bringing into use a digital system for test results and vaccine certificates which will help facilitiate international travel.IATA said on Wednesday that it was essential that governments start issuing their citizens with digital vaccination certificates which can then feed into its travel pass.
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The app, dubbed the IATA Travel Pass, is designed to provide government, airlines and air passengers with a streamlined process to ensure there is "accurate information, secure identification and verified data" available to meet all relevant coronavirus restrictions.
The IATA has outlined a timeline for the full rollout of its travel pass, with initial efforts underway at Singapore Airlines while a further 20 airlines are testing the app. More companies are set to start using it in the next few months, the organization said, and it aims to have the full pass ready to go live at the end of March.
At the same meeting, the IATA expressed concerns that the ongoing global restrictions around COVID-19 are still hitting airlines, with its chief economist warning it will likely take longer than planned for companies to be able to stop burning cash and begin rebounding financially.
Some companies have expressed concern that the summer booking period, a popular time for the airline industry, still "remains weak," with reservations currently only at seven percent of pre-pandemic levels. The IATA, which represents some 290 members, has urged governments to provide further financial support to prevent the crisis in the travel industry from getting worse.
The statement from the IATA comes after Europol issued a warning about criminals selling falsified Covid-19 test results to travelers, allowing them to get around the restrictions in place because of the pandemic. In January, the UK's Immigration Service Union told Britain's Sky News that there is no way for border officers to validate Covid-19 tests to ensure they are legitimate.
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