Air Baltic has joined a growing number of carriers to announce a trial of the IATA Travel Pass digital health passport.
During the three-week trial customers on the Latvian airline’s Riga-Amsterdam and Riga-Oslo routes will be invited to use the app to receive Covid-19 test results, and verify they are eligible to undertake their journey through an ‘OK to Travel’ status.
In recent weeks carriers including Malaysia Airlines, Rwandair and Air New Zealand have all announced IATA Travel Pass trials.
Three of the Gulf’s largest airlines are also set to conduct trials, and BA’s parent company IAG has been working with IATA on the development of the scheme.
“Testing is the immediate solution to safely re-open borders and re-connect people,” said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe..
“And eventually this is likely to transition to vaccination requirements. In either case, a secure system to manage Covid-19 testing or vaccination information is critical. The IATA Travel Pass is a solution that both travellers and governments can trust. And it is being built with data security, convenience and verification as top priorities.
“We are proud to work with Air Baltic and the Latvian government to introduce IATA Travel Pass. This is an important step in enabling international travel during the pandemic, giving travellers the confidence that they are meeting all Covid-19 entry requirements.”
For a look at the pros and cons of “vaccine passports”, and the different options being developed, see our recent features:
