IATA Expects to Roll Out Covid Travel Pass ‘Within Weeks’: All You Need to Know

The IATA sees the digital travel pass, a mobile app developed by the association, as an essential tool for the reopening of international borders.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reportedly said the digital Covid travel pass should be ready “within weeks” as several airlines are conducting trials of the app that verifies the health status of passengers.

While governments around the world gradually lifted restrictions on the entry of foreigners, many of them announced their own set of requirements that inbound travellers must fulfill to board a plane.

The IATA sees the digital travel pass, a mobile app developed by the association, as an essential tool for the reopening of international borders without having the risk of importing the infectious disease. Several airlines, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Air New Zealand, are conducting trials of IATA travel pass in an attempt to seamlessly manage the digital travel documentation of passengers.

“We are currently working with a number of airlines worldwide and learning from these pilots. And the plan is to go live in March,” Vinoop Goel, IATA’s regional director of airports and external relations, told BBC. “So basically we expect to have a fully functional working system over the next few weeks.”

Here’s all you need to know about the IATA travel pass: