Health Passport: which application is used by Latin American airlines to streamline procedures at airports

Several Latin American airlines, among which Copa, Avianca, Latam and Aeroméxico, have decided to adopt the “IATA Travel Pass” application in order to facilitate border procedures in the context of the need to curb the circulation of the virus. The idea is to find an agile and standardized way to control testing or vaccination to ease travel restrictions.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced at the end of 2020 the launch of its application, which has established itself as one of the tools for airlines to ensure and accelerate international travel. The mobile platform has been designed to summarize, collate, verify and manage any information about each passenger’s Covid-19 vaccines or tests that may be needed at the various border crossings.

In search of the reopening of international borders and the reactivation of tourism, tests have started on this tool aimed at recovering passenger traffic safely in the context of the pandemic that erupted in early 2020. With this application, the authorities who request it can verify in a simple and secure way the authenticity of the health certificates, the vaccination record of each country, the list of airlines that the traveler has used, the data on the laboratories as well as the personalized information. on each passenger.

Among the IATA recommendations The importance of carrying out systematic detection tests for the coronavirus on all international travelers appears to be a priority. To governments, it recommends having all the means likely to confirm the veracity of the evidence and the identity of those who present it; airlines, to provide accurate information to all their passengers on the necessary requirements and to verify their compliance; and laboratories, which enable the digital issuance of certificates required for travel and accepted by governments.

Finally, IATA insisted that travelers make sure they have all the necessary information on where to get vaccinated, have all test certifications and have the appropriate means to pass relevant information to authorities.

In Latin America, there is still no homogeneity in terms of border restrictions. For this reason, IATA insists on the possibility of using the application in order to correct this disparity. The first stop in the region It was handed over by the government of Panama, which together with Copa Airlines have used the Travel Pass since February 3 of this year with encouraging results. Then Avianca joined, then Latam did the same.

In this scenario, IATA hopes to start new negotiations with other airlines in the area, both for domestic and international traffic. The last airline to integrate the application was Aeromexico which will test the tool on its flights to Chicago and Madrid. Andrés Castañeda, Executive Vice President of Digital and Customer Experience at Aeromexico, said the IATA Travel Pass trials are part of a digitization strategy to stay ahead and continue to provide a safe, agile and reliable travel experience.

“The IATA Travel Pass assures governments that passengers meet health requirements, streamlines migration processes and simplifies the travel experience,” said Peter Cerda, IATA Regional Vice President for the Americas , adding that “it will allow aviation to reconnect the economies of the world.” ”.

June 9, IATA published a report according to which Latin American airlines experienced an 81.1% drop in activity in April of this year compared to April 2019. Internationally, the study reports a drop in demand of 87 , 3% in April 2020 compared to the same month in 2019 (values ​​before the pandemic).

Meanwhile, Aerolineas Argentinas sources said Infobae that at present, the company is not planning to implement the IATA Travel Pass, but is constantly studying how to implement improvements to speed up travel.

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