IATA reveals design elements of its travel health pass

IATA Travel Pass is a mobile app to help travellers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for Covid-19 testing or vaccine information.

“Testing is the immediate solution to safely re-open borders and re-connect people. And, eventually, this is likely to transition to vaccination requirements. In either case, a secure system to manage Covid-19 testing or vaccination information is critical. The IATA Travel Pass is a solution that both travellers and governments can trust. And it is being built with data security, convenience and verification as top priorities,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

IATA’s first priority is putting travellers in control of their personal information for top-level data security and data privacy. The IATA Travel Pass stores encrypted data, including verified test or vaccination results on the mobile device of the traveller. The traveller controls what information is shared from their phone with airlines and authorities. No central database or data repository is storing the information. IATA Travel Pass is also built on the highest standards of data protection laws, including General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).

Global standards for Covid-19 vaccines and testing

The second priority is using global standards recognised by governments to ensure verified identity and test/vaccine information.

A government-issued ePassport is used to verify the identity of the user. It also serves to create a digital representation of the user’s passport to allow the information to be sent electronically in a secured way that is linked to their verified identity.

Currently, the main vaccination requirement for entry into some countries is for yellow fever. Under the International Health Regulations, this is managed by the ‘yellow card’ or International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis. The World Health Organization is developing digital standards that will make these vastly more secure and will dramatically reduce fraud. When ready, the IATA Travel Pass will be able to accommodate such new global standards. Until a Covid-19 vaccine is widely available to the general public, the priority is on Covid-19 testing.

VSTE launches Fit to Fly health passport

IATA is not the only organisation developing a travel health pass. British cyber technology company VST Enterprises (VSTE) launched its ‘fit to fly’ secure health passport designed for air travel.

The V-Health Passport™ uses closed loop technology with end to end encryption and has 2.2 Quintillion collision free combination codes. These decode based on geo location, time and date, device type and user login, meaning it cannot be hacked.  

It can provide airline passengers and airlines with a secure digital passport that validates the passenger’s identity, authenticates their Covid-19 test result and vaccination/immunisation details. The V-Health Passport™ also uniquely provides airline passengers and airlines with a contact tracing technology which uses anonymised data.

All of these new health passports give hope for the travel industry, making it safer to travel during the pandemic and boosting traveller confidence.