The world has not yet wholly rebounded from the social and economic impact of the pandemic. And it’s high time for countries to reopen borders with no restrictions and smoothly facilitate international travel.
The International Air Transport Association IATA started an initiative called the IATA travel pass, which allows countries to confidently reopen borders without any mandatory quarantine. It’s a digital health pass, and it will be available to all nations for free. A recent press release from IATA says the development of IATA’s digital travel pass is in its final stage. As countries use testing to limit Covid-19 importation, verifying all the testing and vaccination information becomes critical. And IATA travel pass solves the same problem statement by creating an infrastructure for easy flow of information among governments, airlines, labs, and travelers.
Before we get into the intricacies of how the Travel Pass will work, let’s first understand the initiative and what it aims to achieve.
What is IATA Travel Pass Initiative?
The primary objective of the IATA travel pass initiative is to provide a digital infrastructure to countries that allow them to re-open borders without any quarantine. The travel pass will have accurate information on passengers’ health status. And the travel pass will work on a two-way mechanism that helps both passengers and governments.
For passengers, IATA Travel Pass is a mobile app where they can find all the information regarding what tests results they need to produce, where they can get the test, and methods to verify vaccination status before their travel. Also, with the IATA travel pass mobile app, passengers can directly share Covid health information with governments in a secure and discreet manner.
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How does IATA Travel Pass Work?
As we mentioned earlier, the whole initiative of free IATA Pass revolves around providing a one-stop solution to all stakeholders that facilitate travel in the post-pandemic world. Now let’s quickly understand how the travel pass initiative helps these stakeholders at different levels.
Governments
Governments of the countries using the Travel Pass will get unified and authenticated data of tests, vaccination status, and the identity of travelers to confidently open borders and thoroughly scrap post-travel quarantines.
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Aviation Industry
Airlines will get an efficient information distribution mechanism, which they can use to inform their passengers and potential travelers on test requirements. Also, verify if a passenger meets the mandatory requirement for travel.
Covid-19 Test Labs
IATA authorized test labs and centers will have a single source mechanism to send test reports and vaccination certificates directly to the passengers. Also, they will be to process passengers’ data confidentiality.
Travelers
With the help of the Travel Pass App, passengers will be able to create digital passports. And they can also verify their vaccination and test result in real-time and check if their “Digital Passports” meet the covid travel norms of their destination.
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As countries with the likes of Singapore, Qatar, Malaysia, Switzerland, and 60 other nations are already using the IATA Travel Pass on a trial basis, it’s going to be a monumental tool to bring back international travel to the level pre-pandemic times.
