Gallery: Airlines Expanding Digital Health Pass Usage

British Airways announced that following the successful trial of mobile health pass, VeriFLY by Daon, and its subsequent rollout across its network, it has signed a long-term agreement with Daon. As well as ensuring a customer has the correct documentation for their journey, British Airways has further developed the technology to allow customers using VeriFLY to check in online on BA.com. Boarding passes can be downloaded ahead of arriving at the airport and customers travelling with hand luggage can head straight through security without the need to visit a desk once they arrive at the airport, further increasing the capability for contactless travel. The airline initially started trialing VeriFLY in February 2021 on selected routes and has seen over 500,000 customers successfully verified before travel. VeriFLY is now available on all flights to North, South and Central America the Caribbean, Middle East, South Africa, Cayman Islands, Egypt and European destinations including Bulgaria, France, Croatia, Ireland and Switzerland, as well as on the majority of flights into the UK.

IATA announced that Etihad Airways, Jazeera Airways, Jetstar, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian airlines will implement IATA Travel Pass in a phased rollout across their’ networks. The announcement, made on the sidelines of the 77th IATA AGM in Boston, follows 11 months of extensive testing by 76 airlines.

Emirates is the first airline to implement the IATA Travel Pass solution on six continents as it rolls out this digital health pass to customers at all its destinations. Following successful trials in April on select routes from its Dubai hub, Emirates gradually expanded the IATA Travel Pass pilot to customers on 12 routes in June and the airline has now signed a contract with IATA to implement the solution across its global network. Currently available to Emirates’ customers traveling from 50 cities, the roll-out across all 120+ Emirates destinations is expected to be completed by October.

Air Astana is among 70 airlines that is undertaking trials of the IATA Travel Pass mobile application on services between Nur-Sultan and Istanbul between Sept. 2-16, 2021.

Garuda Indonesia will trial the IATA Travel Pass from Aug. 30 to Sept.13, 2021. In the initial phase, IATA Travel Pass will be offered to Garuda Indonesia passengers on the return flights of GA874/GA875 between Jakarta and Haneda. With the trial, Garuda Indonesia said it becomes the first Indonesian airline to trial IATA Travel Pass mobile app to its passengers, to help them manage their COVID-19 digital health credentials in line with government requirements seamlessly, particularly for those who will embark on international flights.

The EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) and UK NHS COVID Pass can now be uploaded into IATA Travel Pass as verified proof of vaccination for travel. Travelers holding an EU DCC or UK NHS COVID Pass can now access accurate COVID-19 travel information for their journey, create an electronic version of their passport and import their vaccination certificate in one place. This information can be shared with airlines and border control authorities who can have the assurance that the certificate presented to them is genuine and belongs to the person presenting it.

Taiwan’s two largest carriers, China Airlines and EVA Air, will begin trials of the IATA Travel Pass. From Aug. 30 the island’s state-owned carrier China Airlines will utilize the pass on a broad range of flights from Taipei (TPE), including to Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), Ontario (ONT) and San Francisco (SFO) in the US as well as on services to Frankfurt (FRA), Singapore (SIN) and Vancouver (YVR). China Airlines has already partnered with Singapore-based Affinidi to use its health-verification platform on its flights from SIN and Kuala Lumpur (KUL). The full-service carrier is in the process of evaluating other digital-verification platforms as it tries to reduce contact points and increase digital services. EVA Air also plans to deploy the IATA Travel Pass system on its TPE-Paris (CDG) service from September. Taiwan’s number-two airline has also tested Affinidi since March and more recently the AOKpass, a system developed in partnership with the International Chamber of Commerce, International SOS and certification firm SGS. EVA is also studying the use of the Star Alliance Health Data Exchange Platform.

Gulf Air has extended its IATA Travel Pass trial to include flights from Bahrain to Dubai, Frankfurt and Paris, after initially kicking off the trial on flights from Bahrain to Athens, London and Singapore.

European medical diagnostic services provider SYNLAB and IATA signed an agreement to incorporate SYNLAB’s extensive lab network into the IATA Travel Pass. This will enable airline passengers to access SYNLAB’s COVID-19 testing services, which gives travelers access to up to 450 testing labs and more than 1,600 sample collection points across 36 countries.

Following successful trials, Etihad Airways has expanded IATA Travel Pass on flights between Abu Dhabi and seven destinations across its network. IATA Travel Pass is available for guests on all Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and Bangkok, Barcelona, Geneva, Madrid, Milan, New York and Singapore and offers the convenience of a one-stop platform for managing COVID-19 documentation.

Collins Aerospace is rolling out a new backend system that will seamlessly help airlines and passengers efficiently obtain IATA Travel Pass details and requirements from the start of the booking process. The TransAction solution acts as an “exchange”, taking in data from the IATA Travel Pass web interface before converting and distribution to various airline’s reservation protocols and departure control system, and vice versa. The service can be broken down to three levels of service. The first level will allow the system to obtain the passenger’s itinerary and present the necessary tests and results required for the passenger to take in his various stage of travel. The second, known as “write back,” will allow the system to push the Travel Pass content to be updated and stored in the airline’s DCS. The write back function will be ready in about four to five weeks. The last segment of the TransAction will eventually see a blockchain powered identity management system where passengers can complete a single token biometic-based journey in the airport without doing anything additional. This could go live as early as year-end, although an European airline is looking to trial the system earlier.

KLM customers traveling to a selected number of destinations can now have the necessary COVID-19 travel documents checked in advance using a new service called KLM COVID-19 check Upload@Home. It is now available for all KLM flights to Amsterdam, and for KLM flights from or via Amsterdam to Curaçao, Dubai, Lima, St Martin, Istanbul, Germany and Spain, with more planned.

Air France has rolled out “Ready to Fly,” a pre-travel health document verification service on flights from Paris to Corsica and French overseas destinations. A few days before travel, passengers are invited to upload health documents to an online Air France platform. The documents are checked and, if they are complete and correct, a confirmation message is sent. The boarding passes issued will be marked “Ready to Fly,” enabling them to be processed quickly at the airport on the day of departure. If a document is missing or incomplete, customers receive a notification message inviting them to transfer the missing documents or to present them at the airport on the day of their trip.

Taiwanese international airline EVA Air plans a six-week trial of the ICC AOKpass on flights between Taiwan Taoyuan Airport, San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Through the pilot program, passengers can make a reservation for PCR test with hospitals and download/register the AOKpass app to file the test result in their flight booking record. The test result will include a digital QR code for airline’s scan verification at the airport.

British Airways (BA), Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Airport have joined forces to prove it’s possible to quickly and easily verify those arriving into the UK who are fully vaccinated—an identification process already in place for outbound travel to several countries. The new UK proving trial, enabling inbound travelers to present their fully vaccinated status, will support the government to move forward with its plans to remove quarantine for double jabbed passengers entering the UK from “amber list” countries. The initiative will see fully vaccinated volunteers traveling on selected flights from Athens, Los Angeles, Montego Bay and New York to London Heathrow showing proof of their vaccine status. Internationally recognized vaccination credentials will be accepted including the NHS app, CDC card, US state-level digital certification and EU Digital Covid Credential. BA will also support customers’ vaccine verification through the VeriFLY app and Virgin Atlantic customers can verify their vaccine certificate through a new digital uploader tool, developed in partnership with Delta Air Lines and backed by TrustAssure technology. As the proof-of-concept develops, the options for customers to show vaccine status will rapidly be expanded, across physical, digital and integrated formats, including IATA Travel Pass.

Qatar Airways will roll out the IATA Travel Pass in phases from July, beginning initially with cabin crew returning to Doha traveling from Kuwait, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Sydney. Cabin crew will be able to upload their Qatar-issued COVID-19 vaccination credentials, along with their COVID-19 test results to the IATA Travel Pass Mobile App and verify they are eligible to travel. On arrival in Doha, crew will then be able to securely share their vaccination certificate and proceed through immigration at the airport.

Etihad Airways has extended its Verified to Fly travel document initiative, enabling travelers to validate their COVID-19 travel documents before arriving at the airport, to routes across its global network. With the formalities out of the way, verified travelers enjoy fast track check-in at the airport through the dedicated Verified to Fly desk for a quicker and smoother experience. Launched in early June, early trials showed that Verified to Fly Guests saw their processing times at the check-in desk almost halved and the average queuing time for all guests reduced.

Norwegian Air Shuttle has expanded its partnership with Amadeus to pilot Traveler ID’s digital health verification capability. The Amadeus solution will be embedded within the passenger self-service check-in experience, whether done through the airline app or website. Travelers will be able to declare the required health documentation within the app which will then be checked against the destination’s requirements.

Lufthansa passengers with digital vaccination certificates issued by their doctor, pharmacy or vaccination center can have a faster check-in and receive their boarding pass. Travelers present the digital vaccination certificate, which proves full vaccination protection, either via app or on a printout at check-in at the airport. There, it is read and the boarding pass is issued directly, eliminating the need to take various papers and proofs to the airport. It also makes it much more difficult to misuse forged vaccination certificates, as the system compares the data from the QR code with the booking and passenger data. In the future, mobile check-in via smartphone will also be faster and easier: On selected routes, it will soon be possible to scan QR vaccination certificates with the Lufthansa app or to load them digitally into the app. The app recognizes the QR code and uses this information to create the boarding pass.

Air France started the trial of IATA Travel Pass on flights from New York-JFK and Barcelona-BCN to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports. With this experiment, the airline seeks to streamline the checking of COVID-19 test results. It is open to customers traveling on Air France-operated flights with Paris as their final destination from New York JFK until July 8, and from Barcelona BCN until June 30.

Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic Airways will partner to trial a new digital health credential solution on select routes between the US and UK, with broader availability coming this summer. Delta began testing the new solution in late April on flights between Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport. Delta FlyReady assists customers in scheduling a COVID-19 test that meets destination requirements, automatically verifies their test results, and confirms the traveler meets the necessary testing requirements in place at their destination. Virgin Atlantic plans to begin testing the solution, adapted as Virgin Atlantic FlyReadySM, on Virgin Atlantic-operated flights between London Heathrow and US cities starting in June. Those eligible to use the tool during the test will be contacted before travel with more information on how to participate.

Flydubai has partnered with Alhosn, the official UAE app for COVID-19 contact tracing and health testing, to provide passengers with digital verification of COVID-19 medical records while traveling from the UAE. Flydubai passengers, who are citizens,

Aeromexico has joined IATA to trial its Travel Pass from June 21 on routes from Mexico City to Chicago and Madrid. Eligible customers on these routes will be invited to participate in Aeromexico’s trial.

Kuala Lumpur-based Malindo Air is set to begin trials for the IATA Travel Pass on selected flights, with the hope of eventually rolling the program out to all international routes. Eligible passengers are being personally invited to download the app and enroll for the digital travel pass ahead of their travels. In Kuala Lumpur, Malindo Air has partnered with selected Health Care labs, which are authorized to securely send test results to passengers via the app.

The LATAM Group—through its subsidiaries in Chile and Peru—will trial the IATA Travel Pass between June 14-July 2 on four routes: Lima-Miami; Lima-Santiago de Chile; Santiago de Chile-Lima; and Santiago de Chile-Miami.

The European Commission announced June 1 its EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate has gone live. Set up in only two months, the EU gateway said it provides for the verification of the security features contained in the QR codes of all certificates. This will allow citizens and authorities to be sure that the certificates are authentic. “During this process, no personal data is exchanged or retained. The go-live of the gateway completes the preparatory work at EU level,” the Commission said in a statement. From July 1, all EU member states will be required to use the system. Twenty-two countries have tested it since May 10 and seven countries—Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland—have begun to use it.

British Airways (BA) began trialing digital travel solution, IATA Travel Pass, on flights from Heathrow to Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland from June 1. The airline’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), has been working closely with IATA to co-develop the app that is now being successfully piloted by other global airlines, including British Airways’ sister airline Iberia. British Airways is also trialing digital travel app, VeriFLY, on routes to the US, France, Ireland, Barbados, Bahamas and Canada, as well as all inbound international flights. Once a customer has had their travel documentation certified through the app, they will be able to check-in through either ba.com or the British Airways app and download their boarding pass before arriving at the airport. The airline’s customers traveling to Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal can now also upload their negative COVID-19 test result and other documentation directly into ba.com for verification before travel.

American Airlines is working with mobile health partner Daon and its app VeriFLY to help customers verify they are vaccinated and ready to fly before they even step foot in an airport. Customers using the VeriFLY app now have the option to securely upload their vaccine documentation for travel to the Bahamas, El Salvador and Guatemala. For travel to the Bahamas, El Salvador and Guatemala, customers can upload a photo of both sides of their COVID-19 vaccine record into the app. The VeriFLY team will review that all documentation meets the destination requirements.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has rolled out its Verified to Fly service, which validates a passenger’s COVID-19 travel documents before arriving at the airport. The service is available for all guests departing from May 12 (excluding China) and for flights departing Amman, Beirut, Dhaka and Manila shortly thereafter. To use the Verified to Fly service, guests can sign-up by visiting Manage my Booking and will receive further information on how to submit their documents. Once the submission has been checked by the Verified to Fly team, guests will receive a “success” email if their documents meet government requirements. If requirements are missing or not met, guests will be asked to resubmit or check their documents.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) is inviting customers to participate in a trial of the IATA Travel Pass mobile application to simplify the verification of health records in line with each country’s latest travel requirements. IATA Travel Pass will be tested on ANA’s Tokyo/Haneda–Honolulu and Tokyo/Haneda–New York/JFK routes from May 24 until June 6. Customers who participate in the trial will be able to enjoy a discount on their COVID-19 test at certain specified test centers, and receive 1,000 ANA miles in their ANA Mileage Club account after completing the post-trial survey.”

SITA, in partnership with Indicio.tech and the Aruba Health Department, is trialing the Aruba Health App, a pilot that makes it easy for visitors to share a trusted traveler credential—based on their health status—privately and securely on their mobile device. This credential will provide access to participating hospitality sites on the island. All tourists are required to provide a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before flying. Using the Aruba Health App, visitors to the island who have provided the required health tests to the Aruba government will be issued with a unique trusted traveler credential, using blockchain technology. This credential then can be verified by hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues through the unique QR code on a visitor’s mobile device without sharing any private data. The digital credential also enables the Aruba government to restrict visitors from leaving their hotel rooms until they have received a negative PCR test result.

Caribbean Airlines and Ink Aviation have expanded their partnership to include a digital health passport, Ink Mobile App (Tento Wallet), which can securely upload COVID-19 test results directly from the labs, presentation at the airport when checking in.

Turkish LCC Pegasus Airlines signed an agreement for the IATA Travel Pass, which allows guests to digitally store and manage their health-related certifications required for international travel, such as their COVID-19 test results. As the first implementer of the IATA Travel Pass in Turkey, Pegasus Airlines is working with Hitit, one of the world’s leading global providers of airline applications, to realize the integration.

Ethiopian Airlines Group became the first African airline to conduct trial of IATA Travel Pass, a digital travel mobile app to enhance efficiency in testing or vaccine verifications. The trial will be conducted on flights out of Addis Ababa to Washington DC and Toronto as well as on flights out of London and Toronto to Addis Ababa.

Etihad Airways guests traveling through May 31 from Abu Dhabi to Chicago, New York, Washington and Toronto, will be the first to trial the IATA Travel Pass app to manage their travel health credentials.

European diagnostic service provider Unilabs and IATA signed an agreement to incorporate Unilabs’ worldwide COVID-19 testing network into the IATA Travel Pass. The deal will make Unilabs one of the first major lab groups to be integrated into IATA’s Travel Pass app. Proof of a negative COVID-19 test is required by many governments as a condition of entry, and the app makes the process seamless, secure, and easy.

IATA and bio-analytical testing lab Eurofins are partnering to incorporate its worldwide COVID-19 testing network into the IATA Travel Pass. Trials of IATA Travel Pass incorporating the global Eurofins network are expected to begin with airlines piloting IATA Travel Pass across multiple regions in the coming weeks.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will become the first airline in the Lufthansa Group to trial IATA’s Travel Pass app, which it will do on its Zurich-London Heathrow route from April 22 onward. In addition to the IATA Travel Pass, SWISS is also evaluating the use of further digital solutions such as the EU Green Pass and the CommonPass. “We support all endeavors to make travel simple and reliable again during the coronavirus pandemic,” SWISS CEO Dieter Vranckx said.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) will introduce the IATA Travel Pass on its network, starting first with a trial that is set to take place on the Kuala Lumpur–Jeddah route later this month, on April 19. Guests traveling with Saudia will be able to visit a designated laboratory in Malaysia to complete PCR test requirements, which can then be uploaded on the IATA Travel App for use in onward travel to Saudi Arabia.

Korean Air plans to trial the IATA Travel Pass in May on the airline’s Incheon-Los Angeles KE011 flight. As part of the goal to “Test & Fly,” passengers can take a COVID-19 antigen test at Incheon Airport’s testing center and receive test results within an hour on their IATA Travel Pass mobile app. The app needs to be installed in advance and will later include vaccination info.

Iberia will launch the IATA Travel Pass beginning April 10 on its Madrid-Montevideo flight. The app allows passengers to store, manage and certify the health documentation required by the different countries to travel, that is, the COVID-19 test certificates and, in a next step, also vaccination certificates.

Singapore will be the first country to accept data and results from the IATA Travel Pass in a collaboration with the airline group. Starting from May 1, passengers departing from Singapore will be able to show the airline one’s pre-departure COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test results, while arriving passengers are able to present their results to Singapore’s immigration officials on the IATA Travel Pass. The IATA Travel Pass is already on trial with around 20 airlines, including Singapore Airlines (SIA); however, it is the first time the collaboration is being carried with a national-level partner. Regulator Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said the country’s health and border control authorities will accept the IATA Travel Pass as a valid form of test presentation following the successful pilot with SIA in December 2020.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will begin participating in trials with three digital health credential apps—CommonPass, VeriFLY and IATA Travel Pass—as it moves toward plans for adoption on international flights. The purpose of the trials is to introduce and expand worldwide the health credential platforms, which can display information on a customer’s digital device, including COVID-19 test results issued by medical institutions, and other entry requirement information for each destination; achieve a contactless and seamless check-in process with health credential apps; and expand applicable situations, including clearing health quarantine processes with the usage of health credential platforms.

Lufthansa passengers leaving Germany are allowed to enter the US if they have a COVID-19 test conducted before departure with Lufthansa’s testing partner, Centogene, which is located in Frankfurt Airport. Test results will be received via CommonPass. This applies to all Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt to the US, as well as the corresponding feeder flights via Frankfurt from Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin and Düsseldorf. Lufthansa passengers who use the CommonPass app before their flights to the US receive complimentary access to the Senator Lounge at Frankfurt Airport between 8 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., local time, in the morning.

Virgin Atlantic is launching two trials to pave the way for the introduction of digital health passes. Partnering with IATA Travel Pass and TrustAssure, the airline will run two separate, complimentary trials to streamline customers’ journeys. On April 16, Virgin Atlantic will start a one-month trial of the IATA Travel Pass on its London Heathrow to Barbados services. Virgin Atlantic will seek approval from the UK government to expand the trial to accommodate customers arriving at the UK border on flights from Barbados. Virgin Atlantic is also working with TrustAssure to trial a similar system for customers traveling to the US. From March 29, travelers are able to verify COVID-19 test results digitally. The technology has already proven extremely effective in trials by Virgin Atlantic’s Joint Venture partner Delta Air Lines. Once confirmed, customers will receive a QR code with a green verification, allowing them to proceed quickly through check-in.

All Nippon Airways is collaborating with The Commons Project (TCP), in cooperation with The World Economic Forum to hold trials of the CommonPass on the flight from Tokyo Haneda to New York on March 29. During this trial, ANA will verify the effectiveness of tests and check-in procedures at Haneda Airport, using the information it gathers to improve the process. ANA will continue working together with TCP, in order to establish a system for safe international travel and to improve all aspects of the passenger experience. CommonPass is a user-oriented standardized global identification framework that makes it possible for travelers to document and share their COVID-19 testing status and vaccination history. Ensuring that entrants meet all COVID-19 related immigration regulations, the system removes barriers to and expedites processing of international travel while also protecting user privacy.

Ethiopian Airlines will trial the IATA Travel Pass, a digital travel mobile app to enhance efficiency in testing or vaccine verifications and restart travel. The IATA Travel Pass initiative helps verify the authenticity of test information presented by travelers which is essential for ensuring the safety of passengers while complying with entry requirements of countries. In the future, it will also manage vaccine certificates for travel. The Travel Pass will help create a digital passport, receive test and vaccination certificates, and verify that they are sufficient for their route, and share testing or vaccination certificates with airlines and authorities to facilitate travel. The digital travel app will also avoid fraudulent documentation and make air travel more convenient.

Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) LCC Scoot is taking part in SIA’s pilot trials for one-stop pre-departure testing (PDT) solution and digital verification process at check-ins. A complimentary online portal will allow customers departing on flights from Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong SAR, China to book PDT appointments with recognized and accredited partner clinics, make payment for the tests, and receive results in digital form within 36 hours. The portal may be accessed via the Scoot website or mobile app during and after booking their flights, as well as via email reminders from Scoot, and is created and managed by Collinson, a global leader in the provision of traveler experiences, including medical assistance, to travelers.

Ethiopian Airlines is rolling out Trusted Travel Pass, an African platform that verifies COVID-19 medical information and aims to harmonize entry and exit screening across the continent. Trusted Travel Pass is an initiative by the African Union (AU)—a continental body which represents 55 African member states—and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The platform launched in October 2020. Kenya was then named as the first country to use the system in January 2021. Since then, the AU has been calling on other member states to follow suit. The platform, which has been developed under a public-private partnership with PanaBIOS Consortium and Econet Group, provides information on government-approved laboratories for COVID-19 testing in African countries, along with departure and arrival travel requirements. Travelers can also upload their COVID-19 test results and vaccination certificates. These are then validated as genuine, minimizing the risk of fraud.

The European Commission (EC) has put forward a plan for a Digital Green Certificate to provide proof of a passenger’s COVID-19 health status, with the aim of facilitating a travel recovery within the EU. The Digital Green Certificate will provide proof that a passenger has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, received a negative test result or recovered from the coronavirus. The data will be available for free in digital or paper format, including a QR code for both to ensure security and authenticity. The EC said that for the proposal to be ready before the summer, when airlines are hoping for some recovery in demand as vaccination programs start to take effect, it would need swift adoption by the European Parliament and Council.

Cathay Pacific completed a trial of the CommonPass app with pilots and cabin crew on flight CX880 from Hong Kong to Los Angeles on March 15. Cathay said the trial—which used the CommonPass app and pre-departure rapid PCR test records to create a digital pass that included their name, travel document number, and confirmation that their negative COVID-19 PCR test result—was within the prescribed timeframe and conducted at accredited labs, as required by authorities.

New York-based JetBlue Airways and The Commons Project Foundation, in partnership with the government of Aruba and COVID testing companies Vault and XpresCheck, have launched the use of the CommonPass platform, allowing JetBlue customers traveling from Boston’s Logan International Airport to Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport to enter the nation using the CommonPass digital health pass. The CommonPass platform enables safer travel and easy entry as travelers can simply scan their passports to verify that they meet entry requirements into Aruba.

British Airways’ (BA) customers eligible to travel to India will now be able to upload negative COVID-19 test results and other required documentation directly via “Manage My Booking” on ba.com. Once uploaded, BA will check the documentation matches the entry requirements and will allow customers to check in online for their flight 24 hours before they travel, avoiding airport queues. The UK-based airline will be expanding this trial to include more destinations over the coming weeks and aims to add this functionality to its mobile app. The trial runs alongside another BA trial of the health passport VeriFLY on flights to the US and Canada, alongside all UK inbound flights.

Nauru Airlines has adopted Health APIS from Ink Aviation to help comply with the strict COVID-19 entry regulations that exist in Australia, Nauru and surrounding South Pacific island nations. The Alicante, Spain-based airline will use Ink Health APIS to securely validate and share the COVID-19 test status of passengers and crew prior to travel. Test results will be uploaded by authorized clinics and laboratories directly into the system. Nauru Airlines selected the Ink solution for its unique ability to verify passengers’ Covid-19 health status from paper-based test result certificates and multiple digital health wallets, as their adoption increases. This information can then be interactively assessed by destination governments in advance of a flight departing, helping to reduce the number of cases arriving inside a country’s borders.

Ryanair launched the new COVID-19 Document Holder system (or “Travel Wallet”), available on the Irish LCC’s application, enabling customers to upload their negative PCR tests, vaccination certificates and other documents related to the coronavirus that may be essential to travel through the European Union (EU) this summer. As EU governments will not have a vaccination passport for this summer, Ryanair said it is aware that some countries may require additional travel documents; therefore, Ryanair said its new COVID-19 Document Holder “guarantees that passengers will have all your coronavirus-related certificates on hand, stored and safe to present at airports during your next getaway.”

China has announced its own version of a digital health certificate. Powered by WeChat, one of China’s most widely used messaging applications, users just need to scan a QR code for their COVID-19 test results and vaccination history to be reflected in a single online portal. The system is currently only available for Chinese nationals, and limited to outgoing passengers. A full version of the application is already in development with a function for incoming passengers. The government is currently in talks with other countries to develop a recognized mechanism to facilitate cross-border travel.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) will conduct a trial of the IATA Travel Pass mobile application. The trial will further ANA’s goal to seek innovative digital solutions to help customers seamlessly and securely manage their international travel to comply with the latest global COVID-19 health requirements.

CLEAR has partnered with CommonPass to collect and manage COVID-19 test results and vaccination records within its Health Pass app. Amadeus is also integrating its health passport solution with health information aggregators, including CommonPass developer the Commons Project Foundation, which is backed by the World Economic Forum. The integrations will enable the CLEAR and Amadeus health passports to receive data directly from CommonPass’ registry of health institutions and technology companies that have agreed to use open, interoperable standards to deliver and secure COVID-19 testing and vaccination records.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will trial the IATA Travel Pass mobile application in a pilot program involving passengers traveling one-way from Singapore (SIN) to London (LHR) from March 15-28. The app is currently only available for Apple’s operating system; it will later be rolled out in Android. Passengers departing Singapore can book their pre-flight tests at seven registered clinics in Singapore and have the ability to register themselves at the clinic using the Travel Pass app. They will then be able to show the test results to the check-in staff. Current regulatory requirements mean passengers will also be required to carry the physical copy of the health certificate. SIA said a successful trial would lead to the Travel Pass being integrated into the airline’s own application from mid-2021, providing a one-stop portal for passengers.

Latvia flag carrier AirBaltic will trial the IATA Travel Pass for three weeks on flights from Riga to Amsterdam and Oslo. IATA Travel Pass is based on the passenger’s digital identity. It has been developed as four independent modules that can interact with each other. These modules cover registries for regulatory entry requirements and labs/test centres, verified testing/ vaccination certificate issuance and the possibility for passengers to share their tests results along their journey with involved authorities via their mobile device. These modules can work together as one complete end-to-end solution. Or they can be used separately to complement systems that others are building. IATA has developed these modules to ensure they are interoperable with other industry solutions as well as sustainable in the long-term.

Gulf Air is trialing the IATA Travel Pass, which will allow passengers to match their travel itineraries with the COVID-19 health requirements of their destination country and validate compliance. Gulf Air is the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain. During the trial, the service will be available to Gulf Air’s customers traveling on select routes to and from Bahrain.

Malaysia Airlines plans to introduce a Digital Travel Health Pass, which will incorporate some modules of the IATA Travel Pass that enables passengers to create a digital passport, verify their test/vaccination requirements and status, and share their “OK to Travel” status with relevant authorities. The Digital Travel Health Pass will be integrated with the Malaysia Airlines mobile app and will enable passengers to make appointments with certified medical partners to carry out a COVID-19 RT-PCR test or include their COVID-19 vaccination certificate. In addition, passengers can verify their travel eligibility with the airline before their travels, making them aware and informed of the constantly developing travel policies worldwide. This digital ID on the app will pave the way for Malaysia Airlines’ passengers to eventually take advantage of contactless technology options throughout the travel processes.

Air New Zealand will trial the IATA Travel Pass on its Auckland-Sydney Route in April. The trial will run for three weeks once the app hits app/android store shelves in April; both aircrew and customers will be invited to join the trial. The airline is in conversation with government agencies about options for validation of testing and vaccination.

Air France is set to begin testing the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) AOKpass. This four-week test will begin on March 11, 2021 on all Air France flights from Paris-CDG to Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe) and Fort-de-France (Martinique). It will be done on a voluntary basis, to test the operation of the application in real conditions and to collect the opinions of test clients. Air France will share this feedback with the other companies in the SkyTeam alliance, which are currently testing various solutions for digitalizing health documents.

The Lufthansa (LH) Group is taking an important step toward integrating COVID-19 test results into the digital travel chain by setting up a Group Health Entry Support Center for passengers on select routes. Initially, passengers departing Frankfurt to Istanbul, and those passengers departing Newark to Frankfurt or Munich will be able to send in their COVID-19 test certificates and digital entry application confirmations to the center 72 hours before departure. Customers will receive email confirmation in advance that certificates meet entry requirements. The LH Group said procedure is hoped to make check-in and boarding a faster and smoother process.

American Airlines in February expanded its acceptance of the VeriFLY travel app from the Dallas/Fort Worth-based carrier’s domestic airports to include eight countries—Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica and the UK. In addition, American’s joint business partner, British Airways, has begun using VeriFLY for flights from London to the US. VeriFly is a mobile health wallet that simplifies COVID-19 testing requirements.

French carriers Air Caraïbes and French bee, part of Groupe Dubreuil, will launch a new pilot of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) AOKpass, the blockchain based digital health certificate supported by ICC and global industry leaders in health and certification services, International SOS and SGS Group. Using the app, which is purpose-built to be interoperable with all other systems, travelers on specified routes will be able to verify their COVID-19 test results with the airlines without breaching the privacy of their personal health data. The pilots will include Paris airport (Orly) departures to the French Overseas Territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, La Réunion and Tahiti) for Air Caraïbes and French bee. It will be rolled out to passengers from the beginning of March.

V-Health Passport, the product of British technology company VST Enterprises (VSTE), is being adopted by some of Britain’s blue light emergency services who were seeking a solution that can both store and display results in one place and track their staff’s contact with others. The V-Health Passport said it was a world first in April 2020. Today, it remains the only solution that combines test and vaccination solutions with other needs such as event and travel ticketing. The product has been used across the world in education, the workplace, leisure centers, air travel, maritime, construction and more.

Delta Air Lines is launching a pilot with CLEAR Pass beginning Feb. 18 for passengers traveling from Los Angeles to Honolulu onboard one flight per day—helping the Atlanta-based carrier better understand how this and other tools can be used to speed up customer re-entry into the US. Customer participation in the CLEAR Pass pilot is optional. Delta is also consulting with partners across the travel journey—including the cruise line, hotel and entertainment industries—to align on key standards and additional best practices that can be put in place to reopen travel in the months ahead.

Information technology company SITA has launched Health Protect—an industry solution to help airlines, airports, governments and passengers securely share information on health tests or vaccinations needed for travel. According to SITA, Health Protect “seamlessly integrates with multiple travel pass schemes (including AOK, CommonPass, IATA, SimplyGo). Successful trials have already been undertaken with travelers to the United Arab Emirates, and soon to start at Milan Malpensa Airport.

IATA is partnering with the government of the Republic of Panama and Copa Airlines to trial IATA Travel Pass—a mobile app to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with government requirements for COVID-19 testing or vaccine information. The initial trial phase is expected to begin in March on select flights from Copa’s Hub of the Americas in Panama City. Panama is the first government to participate in a trial of IATA Travel Pass, which will be essential to re-establishing global connectivity while managing the risks of COVID-19. Copa Airlines will be the first carrier in the Americas to trial the IATA Travel Pass.

Vision-Box and US-based digital identity innovator, Airside Mobile, have entered into a partnership that Integrates Airside’s Digital Identity & Health Passport App with Vision-Box’s Identity Management Platform, Orchestra. The “enhanced safe, secure and touchless platform” allows travelers to move along their entire journey using their mobile device safely and securely, the companies said in a statement. “This end-to-end integration personalizes the traveler experience and empowers them by keeping them in control of their sensitive information with transparent consent protocols. Data protection is at the heart of the partnership, further supported by Vision-Box’s unique certification in Privacy-By-Design and Airside’s distributed architecture that meets data protection laws, regulations and international standards,” Vision-Box said.

British Airways will begin trialing a new travel health app, VeriFLY, with customers who are eligible to travel between London and the US from Feb. 4. The new digital health travel passport, which can be downloaded to a mobile device, checks that customers meet the entry requirements of their destination by providing digital health document verification and confirming eligibility.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) announced that Etihad Airways, in partnership with health and security services firm International SOS, will pilot the ICC AOKpass on Paris-Abu Dhabi flights. The collaboration, between the Abu Dhabi-based airline and International SOS company MedAire, will use the ICC AOKpass mobile app for the digitalization of pre-departure COVID-19 testing. Under the pilot, Etihad guests are able to securely store their PCR test results digitally on their mobile devices for later verification at the airport. According to ICC, the AOKpass system completes this verification “using a global, incorruptible blockchain-based network—ensuring all test results are genuine, valid, and in line with government regulations.”

United Airlines has launched “Travel-Ready Center,” a new digital solution where customers can review COVID-19 entry requirements, find local testing options, and upload any required testing and vaccination records for domestic and international travel, all in one place. The Chicago-based company said it is the first airline to integrate all these features into its mobile app and website. In the weeks and months ahead, United said it will add “more innovative, industry-first features to the Travel-Ready Center platform to make navigating evolving entry requirements even easier.” United customers will soon be able to: • Schedule a COVID-19 test at one of more than 15,000 testing sites around the world, right from the app or website; • Access the recently launched Agent on Demand, a United-exclusive feature that gives customers the ability to video chat live with a customer service agent to answer any questions about pre-travel requirements or documentation; and • View details about visa requirements for the countries they plan to visit.

American Airlines has become the first U.S. airline to roll out a “health passport” app for inbound international travelers. The VeriFLY app, a mobile health passport that helps customers understand and verify their travel requirements, will be available for travelers starting Jan. 23, for travel from all international destinations. VeriFLY was developed and is managed by the biometric authentication solutions provider Daon. After creating a secure profile on the VeriFLY app, Daon verifies that the customer’s data matches a country’s COVID-19 requirements and displays a pass or fail message.

UAE carriers Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways will become two of the first airlines globally to trial the IATA Travel Pass, which is a mobile app designed to help travelers securely manage their journeys in line with government requirements for COVID-19 testing or vaccine information. Prior to a full roll-out, Emirates will implement a phase 1 trial in Dubai for the validation of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests before departure. In this initial phase, expected to begin in April, Emirates customers traveling from Dubai will be able to share their COVID-19 test status directly with the airline through the app even before reaching the airport. Etihad, meanwhile, said Jan. 19 that it will initially offer the Travel Pass to guests on selected flights departing Abu Dhabi in the 2021 first quarter. If successful, the pass will be extended to other destinations on the Etihad network.

IATA is trialing its Travel Pass, which is the product of cooperation with International Airlines Group (IAG), as part of an initiative to reopen borders without quarantine and assure governments they are effectively mitigating the risk of importing COVID-19. The IATA Travel Pass initiative was unveiled in late November 2020 to create a global and standardized platform for passengers to receive information on vaccine requirements, approved testing labs, as well as a secured system for labs to send test results to and authorities to retrieve them.

The Common Trust Network’s CommonPass lets individuals access their lab results and vaccination records, and consent to have that information used to validate their COVID status without revealing any other underlying personal health information. Lab results and vaccination records can be accessed through existing health data systems, national or local registries or personal digital health records (Apple Health for iOS, CommonHealth for Android). Apple Health and CommonHealth let individuals store their health records securely and privately on their phones, entirely under their control. The CommonPass platform assesses whether the individual’s lab test results or vaccination records (1) come from a trusted source, and (2) satisfy the health screening requirements of the country they want to enter. CommonPass delivers a simple yes/no answer as to whether the individual meets the current entry criteria, but the underlying health information stays in the individual’s control. CommonPass is designed such that it can be accessed directly through other apps and services. The purpose of CommonPass and the Common Trust Network—in cooperation with the World Economic Forum—is to enable safer airline and cross border travel by giving both travelers and governments confidence in each traveler's verified COVID-19 status.

British technology firm VST Enterprises (VSTE), which developed the V-Health Passport, launched its UK home COVID-19 test kit. The “at home” booking service comes with a free secure V-Health Passport, which provides tests results in 24 hours. VSTE in December 2020 launched its “Fit To Fly” secure digital health passport for airlines and airline passengers. The V-Health Passport is a secure digital health passport and contact tracing platform. It can be downloaded and used alongside any form of COVID-19 testing and vaccination that does not use unsecure bar codes and QR code technology; instead, it uses its patented VCode and VPlatform technology. Airlines and transport carriers can also download and use the system. VHealth Scan permissions also allow other items to be viewed from the issued Passport, such as travel and event tickets.

International SOS, the International Chamber of Commerce, and AOKpass Pte. Ltd. have announced the first use of ICC AOKpass to provide a digitally verifiable COVID-19 health certificate for entrance to Singapore. The ability to authenticate health records at border points of entry will help to facilitate the safe and efficient resumption of international travel during the global pandemic. On Dec. 21, 2020, a Singapore citizen returning from Japan on Singapore Airlines flight SQ637 successfully used the ICC AOKpass for the first time, to officially present a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”) digital test result for arrival verification at Changi Airport’s immigration counters. This was the first time an immigration authority has used a blockchain based, digitally verifiable health certificate.