Early in the pandemic, the aviation industry realized the need to communicate health and safety requirements and information about COVID-19. Because there wasn’t one standardized place to look for information, under the leadership of the ACI World IT Standing Committee’s ACRIS (Airport Community Recommend Information Services) Group, ACI, multiple airports and World Business Partners worked together to come up with a solution to help passengers get COVID-19 related health and safety measures at arriving and departing airports. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has played an integral role in this group, and the Airport’s Technology team has helped to develop an app that provides travelers with the critical information they need.
The group, which was led by San Francisco International Airport, focused on two main initiatives. The first was to develop an airports-only application to allow airports to enter and update their own COVID-19 health and safety measures. This data is published in real-time and allows airlines and third parties to access the data from a single source.
The second initiative was to develop a passenger-facing app. Last year, Airports Council International (ACI) World launched an app called Check & Fly. The app, which was developed by Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), was for iOS operating systems, meaning that it was only available to Apple users. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s Technology team saw the need for ensuring that Android users had access to this critical information, and therefore, developed an Android version of the app. This version was recently released by ACI World to the Google Play Store.
The free app provides users with comprehensive information about what they can expect when they travel through a particular airport. The app includes information about whether health screenings are required, what measures the airports have put into place regarding sanitation, what services they can expect when they arrive, and much more. Users simply download the app and then can select a departure or destination airport. It’s a helpful resource for travelers as they navigate travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of March 2021, the COVID-19 health and safety information from 291 airports is digitally accessible through the iOS and Android mobile apps.
