The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed that it plans to release a mobile app to make international air travel easier amidst pandemic restrictions. The pass will be launched by the end of March and the organisation is in talks with the Indian government to make it available for passengers in India.
The app will allow travellers to create a 'digital passport' and verify their vaccination/test details as well as share them with authorities. According to IATA Regional Director for Airports and External Relations (Asia Pacific) Vinoop Goel, the pass will move existing paper processes to a digital platform, allowing users to move their documentation to a digital format.
"IATA Travel Pass is a fully digital solution that can be quickly rolled out and can cater to a huge aviation market like India," Goel revealed to PTI. "…We are confident that they will be quick to adopt the IATA Travel Pass. Given the scale and diversity of the Indian air travel market and the multiple languages used, it will be very difficult to implement a paper-based certificate verification process."
"There will be paper-based alternatives for people who do not have mobile phones, albeit less convenient ones," Goel noted. He also remarked that the traveller's pass was a natural evolution from the existing Timatic solution that IATA was already using. Over 200 Indian airlines like IndiGO and Spicejet are affiliated with the IATA.
Along with document digitisation, the pass offers four interoperable modules including global registries of testing/vaccination centres and laboratories. It will also aid passengers in verifying whether their test and vaccination certificates meet requirements.