(MENAFN- Gulf Times) RwandAir will become the first African airline to trial IATA Travel pass, a digial health pass currently being trialled around the world. The airline will begin a three-week trial in April for customers travelling between Kigali and Nairobi in Kenya.
The IATA Travel Pass is a digital platform to help passengers easily and securely verify that they comply with Covid-19 test or vaccine travel requirements, in turn giving governments the confidence to reopen borders. Developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association for the world's airlines, the platform is designed to be incorporated into airlines' own apps, so travellers by air easily understand what they need before they fly.
Ms Yvonne Manzi Makolo, CEO of RwandAir, said: '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.
The trial app has a range of features, including a registry of testing centres and labs at the departure and/or arrival location which can conduct Covid-19 tests in accordance with the type of test required for the journey.
RwandAir passengers participating in the trial will download the ‘digital passport' app which verifies that their pre-travel Covid-19 test or vaccination meets the requirements of the destination they are travelling to.
They will also be able to safely and securely share their test and vaccination certificates with participating authorities and airlines around the world to ensure smooth and seamless travel.
It's another step forward towards the wider introduction of digital health passports for travel something that's considered 'inevitable by most aviation stakeholders.
Currently, the only disease that requires an official international certificate of vaccination is yellow fever. This is called the 'yellow card, or International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis, and is managed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
With the coronavirus, the proposed digital health applications based upon the concept of a vaccination certificate would attest one of three things: that the holder has been vaccinated or has tested negative for the virus. Their use could allow governments to lift some pandemic-induced restrictions, allowing people to travel.
Sweden and Denmark announced plans to roll out digital coronavirus vaccination passports, reigniting a debate around the use of health documents as a way to ease lockdowns that are crippling the global economy. Denmark said it would launch a first version of a passport by the end of February, while Sweden expected to launch its digital document by summer, if an international standard can be agreed.
In October, Estonia and the World Health Organization started a pilot for a digital vaccine certificate, with the Baltic country announcing earlier this year that it had begun testing a separate "digital immunity passport".
China has put in place an app-based health code system that uses travel and medical data to give people a red, yellow or green rating indicating the likelihood of them having the virus - and whether or not they can walk around freely.
With aviation being the backbone of many economies across the world, IATA thinks the IATA Travel Pass will help give governments confidence that passengers have complied with health requirements enabling aviation to reconnect the region's economies with each other and to the world.
In addition to checking travel requirements, IATA Travel Pass will also include a registry of testing and eventually vaccination centres making it easier for passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.
The platform will also enable authorised labs and test centres to securely send test results or vaccination certificates to passengers. This will manage and allow the secure flow of necessary information amongst all stakeholders and to provide a seamless passenger experience.
While health passports could in theory be paper-based or digital, trials have largely focused on digital solutions as inequitable access to the Covid-19 vaccine could incentivise people to falsify papers.
Elsewhere, Greece is considering opening its borders to tourists who have received a coronavirus vaccine as early as May, it has been reported. Travellers who can prove that they have had a Covid-19 vaccine may be allowed into Greece early this summer, reports the Times.
The Greek government is also said to be discussing the logistics of vaccinating airport workers and hotel employees at resorts. The EU wants countries to follow a united approach when opening up to travellers from outside the bloc, but senior tourism ministry officials did not rule out that Greece could pursue its own policy, as many EU nations did last summer.
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: "A vaccine certificate would allow you to enter Greece without being forced to provide a negative test and without any quarantine restrictions and we do intend to go down that path.
'For those who have not been vaccinated the most likely scenario is that we will request some sort of negative test, we want to make it as easy as possible for them to travel to Greece.
* The author is an aviation analyst. Twitter handle: @AlexInAir
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