Dec. 16—GENEVA — The world's airlines hope to get their industry off the ground with the help of a health passport app that stores coronavirus test or vaccine information on travellers mobile phones.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Geneva said on Wednesday that the health pass will be tested by British Airways and other carriers in coming weeks, before its scheduled release in the first quarter of 2021.
The app is meant to dispense with the need for current quarantine rules that are a major hurdle for international travel.
Travellers' health data will only be stored on their mobile phones, not in any central register, IATA stressed.
"Our aim is to have a cost effective, easy to use, efficient and secure system for this important task," IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac told a press conference.
IATA also urged governments to prepare for air shipment of Covid-19 vaccines around the world, by getting cooling facilities ready, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles and speeding up border formalities.
Aviation workers should be included on priority lists for immunization, allowing them to transport vaccines across borders, de Juniac argued.
The number of air travellers dropped from 4.5 million last year to 1.8 million this year, according to IATA.
The organization estimates that airlines have made 118.5 billion dollars of losses amid the pandemic.
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