Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready ‘within weeks’

Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready ‘within weeks’

image copyrightPA Media

image captionThe pass is seen by the sector as essential for reopening air travel

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it expects its digital Covid Travel Pass will be ready "within weeks".

The pass is an app that verifies a passenger has had the Covid-19 tests or vaccines required to enter a country.

It also verifies they were administered by an approved authority.

The industry body sees the pass as essential for reopening air travel, as many countries still have strict restrictions or quarantines in place.

"The key issue is one of confidence. Passengers need to be confident that the testing they've taken is accurate and will allow them to enter the country." said Vinoop Goel, IATA's regional director of airports and external relations.

"And then governments need to have the confidence that the tests that the passengers claim to have is one which is accurate and meets their own conditions."

IATA said the Travel Pass is designed in a "modular" way, so that it can work with other digital solutions that are being trialled around the world.

It will be available on iOS and Android platforms, and is expected to be free to passengers.

Singapore Airlines was the first airline to