Qatar Airways will be the first Middle Eastern airline to commence trials of the new IATA Travel Pass Digital Passport mobile app, in partnership with IATA, Primary Health Care Corporation, Qatar Ministry of Public Health and Hamad Medical Corporation from 11th March 2021.
Passengers in the airline from Doha to Istanbul route will the first group to experience the Digital Passport app that is likely to play a major role in the vision by the airline to ensure contactless, secure and seamless travel experience for its passengers.
IATA Travel Pass ensures that passengers receive updated information on Covid-19 health protocols at their destination country, while also abiding by the stringent global data privacy regulations to share Covid-19 test results with airlines so as to identify the eligible passengers for travel.
Qatar Airways Chief, HE Akbar Al Baker said “As the world’s leading airline for innovation, safety and customer experience, we are the firmest advocate for introducing digital solutions to help passengers safely and seamlessly navigate complex and ever-changing entry restrictions across the globe. We have confidence in the credibility of the IATA Travel Pass as the industry’s most reliable and innovative solution given its strong data privacy compliance, long-standing entry rules engine and ability to provide an end-to-end solution. We are proud to be at the forefront of trialing this platform, being one of the first globally and the first airline in the Middle East to trial the technology.
Given the strict data privacy regulations, IATA Travel Pass is a huge step ahead in proving that ICAOs global standards for digital passports are effective. It also helps with laying the foundation for governments across the world to get together in developing standardized regulations to reduce the current patchwork of red tap across the international travel industry. Together with WHO, IATA is engaged in helping define a standardized vaccine certificate which will be necessary for opening borders and for scalable increase of global travel.
IATA Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said: “Qatar Airways full deployment of IATA Travel Pass is a significant milestone in restarting global connectivity. Governments are requiring testing or vaccination certifications to enable travel and the IATA travel app helps travelers to securely and conveniently manage and provide their credentials. All passengers using IATA Travel Pass can be confident that their data is protected and governments can trust that the “OK to travel” means both a genuine credential and a verified identity,”
