Rwandair will become the first African airline to trial the IATA Travel Pass “to enable safe and seamless travel”.
The African carrier will begin a three-week trial in April for passengers travelling between Kigali and Nairobi in Kenya. Customers participating in the trial will create a digital passport which will verify that their pre-travel Covid-19 test or vaccination meets the requirements of the destination they are travelling to.
To read more about the initiative, see:
Rwandair joins a host of other airlines trialling the pass, which include Air New Zealand, Copa Airlines, Etihad, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and Qatar Airways.
Yvonne Manzi Makolo, CEO of RwandAir, commented on the news:
“RwandAir is proud to be the first African airline to trial IATA Travel Pass, which could reinforce all the health and safety measures and protocols which we have put in place to restore customer confidence to fly once more. We are incredibly proud to be part of IATA’s Industry Advisory Panel, to ensure we guide the technology development in a way that covers the unique requirements of our passenger profile.
“IATA’s innovative solution simplifies and digitally transmits the information required by countries and governments around the world into our airline systems, in a secure and efficient manner.
“Travel Pass will make it easy for our customers to resume flying – and just as easy for RwandAir, and airlines around the world, to accept them.”
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA Director General and CEO, added:
“RwandAir is showing its industry leadership in Africa by becoming the first airline on the continent to trial IATA Travel Pass. RwandAir has long used IATA products as the most reliable source of information on entry requirements. This trial will build on that history of working in partnership and takes us a step further in the context of COVID-19. IATA Travel Pass will give governments the confidence to re-open their borders knowing that arriving passengers are in full compliance with any testing or vaccination requirements.”
Rwandair currently offers services to 25 destinations across 21 countries throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
For a look at the pros and cons of “vaccine passports”, and the different options being developed, see our recent features:
