EVA Air is partnering with IATA (International Air Transport Association) to pilot test its digital health verification App on flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport, starting in September. The widely anticipated ‘IATA Travel Pass’ will give EVA passengers on this European route a convenient, efficient way to digitally capture their health verification information and minimize person-to-person contact.
Countries around the globe are enacting strict travel requirements and dedicating immense resources to protecting their borders and safeguarding their populations against Covid-19 and its more dangerous variants. Covid-19 vaccinations and negative PCR test results are becoming required travel credentials. Digital health verification platforms are convenient tools that give border control officials direct access to passengers’ test results and help reduce human errors and unnecessary interactions. As we learn to live with Covid-19, tools such as ‘IATA Travel Pass’ will become critical.
Starting in March 2021, EVA began testing these kinds of programs, working with Affinidi and, more recently, AOKpass. Now, it is piloting the ‘IATA Travel Pass’ on another of its popular routes. EVA also plans to evaluate the Star Alliance Health Data Exchange Platform. EVA will continue to work closely with global authorities to co-develop post-pandemic travel standards. At the same time, it is complying with the various and evolving governmental vaccination and health verification policies for destinations it serves. EVA is embracing every opportunity to be part of the global force against Covid-19.
The IATA Travel Pass App has been created during the pandemic and more than 70 airlines have conducted pilot programs. EVA and IATA worked together for four months to construct support systems for the platform and chose Paris – Taipei for the test run. Ticket holders for flights on the route can download the App and create personal IDs. Their next step is to check details for testing at a designated hospital. After the PCR test is done, the medical facility will send it to each passenger’s mobile device.
All the passenger has to do is present the App and the ‘OK to travel’ health declaration form to EVA airport staff who can then quickly verify test results. Both Taiwan and the United States require passengers to be ready to also show paper copies of PCR test results to airport staff if additional verification is needed.
The ‘IATA Travel Pass’ uses secured transmitting technology to ensure data privacy and enable passengers to comfortably manage health information now required for travel. As the pandemic has dragged on in its different forms, entry requirements for countries around the globe have repeatedly changed. The ‘IATA Travel Pass’ is a vital tool, placing the most up-to-date travel information and entry regulations for countries worldwide at passengers’ fingertips.
EVA is piloting digital health verification platforms and automated systems simultaneously with ongoing efforts to enhance and optimize Covid-19 prevention measures and ground operations. EVA aims to provide the safest, most convenient flying experiences available as Covid-19 and its variants wind down and global travel resumes.
In the meantime, it is upholding rigorous Covid-19 prevention standards, evaluating different digital health platforms and much more as it works to find the best ways to provide paperless, zero-contact travel experiences.
