Addis Ababa March 26, 2021 (Walta) – Ethiopian Airlines is to collaborate with International Air Transport Association (IATA) initiative to Trial Travel Pass through a digital mobile app to check COVID-19 related information of travelers.
The initiative helps verify the authenticity of test information presented by travelers essential for ensuring the safety of passengers complying with entry requirements of countries.
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam said this digital technology is vital to solving many of the problems that arise from the pandemic.
“We are glad that we are offering new digital opportunities to our passengers so as to fully and safely restart air travel,” the CEO said. “Our customers will enjoy efficient, contactless, and safer travel experience with their travel pass digital passport.”
He added that Ethiopian Airlines is going to be among the first airlines to implement IATA’s travel pass initiative to facilitate travel and it will increase travelers’ confidence, encourages governments to reopen their borders, and expedites industry restart.
The Travel Pass will help create a digital passport, receive test and vaccination certificates and verify that they are sufficient for their route, and share testing or vaccination certificates with airlines and authorities to facilitate travel, IATA Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac said.
The digital travel app will also avoid fraudulent documentation and make air travel more convenient, he pointed out.
“Ethiopian Airlines is helping to lay the foundation for a re-connected world in which health credentials—COVID-19 test results to vaccination certificates—will play a role,” the director-general and CEO said.
IATA Travel Pass enables travelers to control verified health credential data while sharing it with airlines and authorities as may be required in the travel process, according to ENA.
IATA is a trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 290 airlines, including Ethiopian Airlines, one of the continent’s leading carriers, unrivaled in efficiency and operational success, and commanding the lion’s share of the Pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to 127 international passenger and cargo destinations across five continents.