IATA and Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, have announced a partnership to launch the IATA Travel Pass for Etihad Airways’ guests.
The IATA Travel Pass is a mobile app to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with government requirements for COVID-19 tests or vaccines.
IATA Travel Pass will initially be offered to Etihad Airways guests on selected flights from Abu Dhabi in the first quarter of 2021. If successful, the pass will be extended to other destinations on the Etihad network.
“COVID-19 tests and vaccinations will be key to get the world flying again,” said Mohammad Al Bulooki, Chief Operating Officer, Etihad Aviation Group. “Since 1 August 2020, Etihad is the only airline requiring a pre-departure negative PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test result for all passengers worldwide, and again on arrival in Abu Dhabi, giving our guests the added assurance of safety when they travel with us. A high priority for Etihad is for our guests to have an easy, secure, and efficient way to identify and verify their information. Being one of the first airlines globally working with IATA as a pioneer partner on the IATA Travel Pass is a big step forward for Etihad’s guests and for the industry.”
“The Etihad Airways partnership to launch the IATA Travel Pass is an important milestone on the road to meaningfully restarting international travel,” said Nick Careen, IATA's Senior Vice President, Airport, Passenger, Cargo and Security. “Our aim is to give all governments the confidence to re-open borders to travelers based on verified vaccine and testing data. The initial stage of the Etihad launch will focus on all four elements of the IATA Travel Pass modules, one of the first airlines in the world to do so.”
IATA Travel Pass has been developed as four independent modules that can interact with each other. These modules cover registries for regulatory entry requirements and labs/test centers, verified certificate issuance, digital identity, and the possibility for passengers to share their tests results along their journey via their mobile device.
These modules can work together as one complete end-to-end solution. Or they can be used separately to complement systems that others are building.
