The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it has reached the final development stage of a standardised digital platform that it claims would enable international borders to reopen safely and allow overseas travel to resume.
According to the IATA, the IATA Travel Pass would incorporate four open-sourced and interoperable modules that could be combined to deliver an end-to-end solution.
These modules include a global registry that would enable airline passengers to find accurate information about travel, testing, and eventually vaccine requirements for their journey, as well as the location of testing and vaccination centres at their departure location, which meet the standards for vaccination requirements of their destination.
The pass would also feature a lab app to enable authorised labs and test centres to share and test vaccination certificates with passengers, and a contactless travel app so passengers are able to create a digital passport that would allow them to receive test and vaccination certificates to verify they can travel, which could then be shared with airlines and authorities.
The app could also be used by travellers to manage travel documentation digitally, the IATA added.
The IATA believes it could be used as the universal platform to manage and verify necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, labs, and travellers.
"Today borders are double locked. Testing is the first key to enable international travel without quarantine measures. The second key is the global information infrastructure needed to securely manage, share, and verify test data matched with traveller identities in compliance with border control requirements. That's the job of IATA Travel Pass," IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said.
"We are bringing this to market in the coming months to also meet the needs of the various travel bubbles