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IATA will create a health passport to facilitate mobility around Europe

The air sector Coordination is already being carried out to implement a kind of health travel passport that allows mobility across borders, with the same criteria for all. It is about creating a common system that would facilitate, for example, that a person who has been vaccinated against Covid does not have to take any tests to enter another country.

It would be a digital solution created by IATA, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and testing will begin in March, when it will be a year since the outbreak of the pandemic in Europe. The first airlines to test this passport will be Etihad Airways and Emirates.

This digital healthcare solution developed by IATA aims to facilitate mobility. He has been the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has asked to create a common European vaccination certificate so that the vaccinated travel freely in the EU.

The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, showed this Monday the support of Spain for this certificate in order to reactivate tourism. Maroto defended “a predictable common framework” with which to give confidence to tourists and “avoid indiscriminate measures, such as quarantines or travel restrictions.”

Application

The IATA Travel Pass is an application for mobile devices in which passengers can store the Covid test or vaccine certificates and thus avoid having to carry physical documents.

This new health passport will initially be offered to passengers on select Etihad Airways flights in the first quarter of 2021. If successful, the pass will be extended to other destinations in the Etihad network. The pass will allow passengers to control their data and will facilitate the exchange of their proof with the airlines and the authorities.

Emirates will also test it in Dubai for validation of Covid PCR tests prior to departure. Customers will be able to share their test status directly with the airline even before arriving at the airport through the app, which will then automatically fill in the details in the check-in system.

This system is practical because it will inform about the requirements to enter each country and will include a record of the testing centers and, eventually, of vaccination, which will make it easier for passengers to find these sites in destination countries.

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