On February 22, 2021, Air New Zealand announced the plan to test International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) travel pass, a “digital passport” that would help travelers to manage necessary health documentation throughout their journey.
“Once borders reopen, travel is going to look very different, with customers’ health data needing to be verified at check-in. It’s essentially like having a digital health certificate that can be easily and securely shared with airlines,” a chief digital officer of Air New Zealand Jeniffer Sepull said.
The Auckland-based airline would trial the IATA’s digital travel pass app on its Auckland-Sydney route in April 2021. The trial would run for three weeks, with both crew and passengers.
Air New Zealand is the latest to join Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways in initiative to test IATA travel pass. In January 2021, three airlines of the Middle East said that it would test the “digital passport” in the first quarter of 2021.
The IATA travel pass is a mobile application, designed to assist passengers while navigating through pandemic related travel restrictions in various countries. Also, the application was created to help securely share the test and vaccine certificates with airlines and governments.
Within the IATA travel pass, passengers will be able to find the necessary information on travel and entry requirements for all destinations both airlines fly to. The “digital pass“ will also help authorized labs and test centers to securely provide the results of the COVID-19 testing as well as vaccination certificates to passengers.