With many countries having begun the rollout of COVID vaccines, travel looks set to pick up and potentially some degree of normalcy by the end of the year. To help foster peace of mind and safe travel, many airlines are looking to “health passports” to help facilitate COVID safe travel.
Cathay Pacific, the flag carrier of Hong Kong, says that it strongly supports the introduction of digital health platforms that securely validate compliance with the health-related entry requirements set by different governments, including negative COVID-19 tests and vaccination, enabling travellers to go overseas with reassurance and convenience.
The airline has just completed its latest trial of the technology, designed to validate and refine the departure processes on its flight CX880 from Hong Kong to Los Angeles on 15 March 2021.
Cathay Pacific pilots and cabin crew volunteered for the trial, using the CommonPass app and pre-departure rapid PCR test records to create a digital pass that included their name, travel document number, and confirmation that their negative COVID-19 PCR test result was within the prescribed timeframe and conducted at accredited labs, as required by authorities. Adoption of digital travel passes will make the pre-departure journey more seamless and stress-free for passengers in the post-COVID world, while also delivering a sustainable solution that will allow airport operations to scale up as travel resumes. In future, this verification process can also be used to support border control processes to help enable the safe reopening of borders.
Cathay Pacific is very proud to have collaborated with the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), The Commons Project and Prenetics on the trial. This followed a previous successful trial conducted in October last year between Hong Kong and Singapore with the same partners. Cathay Pacific is also a member of the IATA Travel Pass Advisory Group.
Cathay Pacific General Manager Customer Experience and Design Vivian Lo said: “International travel remains suppressed due to various travel restraints around the world. For borders to reopen fully once again, travellers may need to provide COVID-19 test and vaccination records that meet government requirements in order to travel.
“We believe that digital travel passes will play an important role in helping facilitate the safe, progressive return of international travel. We have therefore been collaborating with our industry partners to pursue the adoption of universally recognised digital travel passes as we prepare to welcome more passengers onboard our flights. A very big thank you to our partners who have helped to make the trials a success.”
Image courtesy of Cathay Pacific
