The Emirates airline has begun trials of the Covid-19 ‘digital passport’, an app to help passengers manage their travel inline with any government requirements for testing or vaccine information.
Passengers travelling from Dubai to Barcelona on EK185 were the first to trial the Travel Pass to verify and share their pre-travel Covid-19 test status with Emirates.
The trials are a step ahead in making travel more convenient, helping travellers manage Covid-19 related documentation digitally and seamlessly all through their travel experience.
In future, travellers will get to share their vaccination certificates with authorities and airlines to facilitate prior to their trip.
The Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer, Adel Al Redha said “The ability to process passengers’ Covid-19 relevant data for travel digitally will be the way forward.”
“We are pleased to have pioneers and partner with IATA in trialling this initiative in real-time and soon will launch other initiatives to further enhance our customer experience,” he further said.
The trial is currently being done on select Emirates flights from Dubai to Barcelona, apart from London Heathrow to Dubai, and will soon be further expanded to include other routes. Eligible passengers will be invited to download the app and enrol for the digital travel pass prior to their travel.
Emirates has partnered with select Prime Health Care labs, which is responsible for sending test results securely to passengers via the app. Those travelling from the UK can get their test done at select Screen4 labs.
The IATA Travel Pass app will have an integrated registry of travel requirements to enable passengers in finding accurate information on travel and entry requirements for all destinations, irrespective of their itinerary.
Eventually, it will also include a registry of labs, which makes it very convenient for passengers in finding testing centres and labs at their departure location, which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.
Managed by IATA, the global registry will manage and ensure the secure flow of required information.
