London Debut for IATA's Travel Pass

IATA's much-anticipated travel pass, news of whose India rollout we had brought to you earlier this month, formally announced its arrival at the Heathrow Airport, as reported by ANI. The pass, in the form of a mobile application, was thus successfully trialled as a hands-on manager for travellers' health details recorded on a universal database.

Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, says, "The successful implementation of IATA travel pass in this trial with Singapore Airlines passengers demonstrates that technology can securely, conveniently and efficiently help travellers and governments to manage travel health credentials. The significance of this to re-starting international aviation cannot be overstated."

With global aviation getting severely impacted due to the curbs on travel imposed after the outbreak of the pandemic, airline companies and bodies have been markedly resurgent and competitive as regards restarting travel. From vaccine transportation to massive discounts and staff inoculation and bigger aircraft, carriers have been resourceful in getting flying back on its feet. In a tense environment, with there still being considerable concern about vaccination, a standardised, digital, universally accessible system for passengers' health credentials is imperative as travel restrictions continue to get lifted progressively. 

A recent IATA survey, too, showed that a healthy number of respondents (89%) agree that global standards are indispensable, while around 80% were interested in using mobile apps to manage their health credentials. 

JoAnn Tan, Acting Senior Vice-President for Marketing Planning at Singapore Airlines, too, concurs. "The successful implementation of the IATA travel pass reflects Singapore Airlines' goal of using secure digital solutions to verify health credentials and support a safe and seamless travel experience for our customers," Tan says.

Read British Airways Prepares to Restart Travel with Testing Kits in Place

Passengers flying Singapore Airlines from Singapore to London in the aforementioned instance used the travel pass, creating a secure app version of their passport and feeding their details into the system to know about travel restrictions. They could also receive test results and the confirmation that all travel needs had been met.