The director general of airline body IATA has hinted that vaccinations
are likely to be required to fly across borders in the future.
Speaking to tourism body the UNWTO yesterday, IATA director general Alexandre
de Juniac said, “We will not be able to eliminate the risk of
Covid-19 in any foreseeable timeline. So we must learn to manage the risk of Covid-19
so that we can safely resume more normal lives and activities – including travel.”
De Juniac went on to add: “For travel and tourism,
testing is the immediate solution to re-open borders. And eventually that will
transition to vaccine requirements. For both we need a globally accepted means
to verify that people have accurate tests or genuine vaccines.”
Qantas has already indicated that proof of
vaccination is likely to be required to enter Australia.
However, we wrote last week about how the bulk of business travellers won't qualify for the vaccine until late 2021.
De Juniac’s comments came as Emirates announced that
it is to begin a trial of IATA’s Travel Pass digital health passport from April.
Emirates said it would use the app to allow
passengers travelling from Dubai to share their Covid-19 test status directly
with the airline before reaching the airport. The details will be auto-populated
into the airline’s check-in system.
IATA’s Travel Pass will have four independent
modules when it is rolled out in March:
• A registry of entry requirements
• A registry of labs, test centres or vaccination providers
• A means for passengers to securely upload test or vaccination
certificates on their phones and share them when appropriate, and
• A digital identity to verify the owner of the certificate.
Travel Pass is one of a number of competing digital health
passport systems, including WEF’s CommonPass, ICC’s AOKPass and V-Health Passport.
Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ chief operating officer,
said: “While international travel remains as safe as ever, there are new protocols and travel requirements
with the current global pandemic. We have worked with IATA on this innovative solution to simplify and digitally
transmit the information that is required by countries and
governments into our airline systems, in a secure and efficient manner.”
The airline yesterday started vaccinating its entire frontline workforce, it said in a tweet, making it one of the first airlines in the world to do so.