Customers flying from Changi to London Heathrow will be the first in line to test out the new mobile platform.
A Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900XWB aircraft. (Photo: Singapore Airlines)
While Emirates, Air New Zealand, and a handful of other carriers are set to try out the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Travel Pass in the coming weeks and months, SIA says it will soon become the world’s first airline to pilot the mobile application. Passengers flying from Singapore to London between March 15 and March 28, 2021 are being invited to use the app as a digital health verification tool, ushering in the second phase of Singapore Airlines’ trials with the recently developed platform.
Customers with mobile phones running on Apple’s iOS operating system can download the IATA Travel Pass app and create a digital ID by uploading a profile photo and filling in their passport details; users also have the option to add their flight information. Trial participants can rest assured that all personal data is stored locally in the user’s phone and not in a central database.
The IATA Travel Pass allows passengers to book their pre-departure Covid-19 test at one of seven participating clinics in Singapore via a dedicated online portal. Once the test results are ready, they can be viewed directly through the app, which will confirm the user’s ready-to-fly status by comparing their documents with up-to-date information from IATA’s global Timatic registry — created to compile testing and entry requirements for countries all around the world.
Check-in staff at Changi Airport will ask trial participants to show their confirmed status in the IATA Travel Pass, along with a physical copy of a medical certificate issued by the clinic proving that they have tested negative for Covid-19.
JoAnn Tan, Singapore Airlines’ Acting Senior Vice President of Marketing Planning, said in a statement, “The first phase of the trials helped to support SIA’s drive towards a secure and convenient industry standard for the verification of Covid-19 test results, and the health status of passengers including their vaccination status, in the future.
“That gives us the confidence that in the second phase, we can further streamline the verification process for eventual integration into SIA’s mobile application. This will help to provide a hassle-free digital solution for our customers in the new normal, and help to bring about a more seamless travel experience.”
More information here.
