Unilabs, the leading European diagnostic services provider, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association for the world’s airlines, have signed an agreement to incorporate Unilabs’ worldwide Covid-19 testing network into IATA Travel Pass. The agreement will make Unilabs one of the first major lab groups to be integrated into IATA’s Travel Pass app. Proof of a negative Covid-19 test is required by many governments as a condition of entry, and the app makes the process seamless, secure, and easy. “Covid-19 testing will play a role in re-starting international travel. Travelers will need to understand test requirements, locate labs, verify their identity to the lab and transfer their test results to relevant parties – airlines and governments – as ne...
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced an agreement with Eurofins to incorporate its worldwide COVID-19 testing network into IATA Travel Pass. Eurofins is a leader in bio-analytical testing with 800 laboratories across 50 countries. As part of the partnership, Eurofins’ dedicated COVID-19 portfolio encompassing multiple test types and hundreds of COVID-19 sampling stations globally will be made available through the IATA Travel Pass. Amid the pandemic, coronavirus testing is required for most international travel. As part of the IATA Travel Pass initiative, Eurofins laboratories will provide secure, verified test results to travelers using the app. This result is checked against the IATA Travel Pass registry of national entry requirements to produce an “OK to ...
Read MoreTravel industry has reacted with caution upon a report from the UK Government’s Global Travel Taskforce. The report shows how international travel could resume from 17 May 2021 at the earliest, in an accessible and affordable way. This includes the removal of the permission to travel form - meaning passengers would no longer need to prove they have a valid reason to leave the country. Its recommendations also include the launch of a new traffic light system and 'green watchlist', and the introduction of travel certification. A traffic light system, which will categorise countries based on risk alongside the restrictions required for travel, will be set up to protect the public and the vaccine rollout from international COVID-19 variants. Key factors in the assessment will includ...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) and Airports Council International Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) have renewed their call to governments in Latin America and the Caribbean in regard to the need to plan in advance and in a coordinated manner so that commercial aviation can resume once the new travel restrictions are lifted in the region. The industry understands that governments’ primary focus is addressing the public health crisis. Nevertheless, the sector has been devised and implemented the necessary policies and procedures to allow aviation to safely operate during the pandemic. The recent tightening of travel restrictions has forced airlines into last minute flight cancellations and...
Read MoreThe World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has again convened its Global Tourism Crisis Committee to lead the sector in harmonizing travel and health protocols and securing vital financing for businesses struggling to survive an historic crisis. The ninth meeting of the Crisis Committee advanced solutions to the biggest challenges standing in the way of international travel returning. Committee members, drawn from political leadership, international organizations, including UNWTO’s sister UN agencies, finance and the private sector, discussed the Crisis Committee’s Recommendations, which focus on four core areas: the resumption of safe, cross-border travel; promoting safe travel at all points of the tourist journey; providing liquidity to tourism businesses and protecting jobs, and rest...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger traffic fell in February 2021, both compared to pre-COVID levels (February 2019) and compared to the immediate month prior (January 2020). Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to February 2019, which followed a normal demand pattern. -Total demand for air travel in February 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 74.7% compared to February 2019. That was worse than the 72.2% decline recorded in January 2021 versus two years ago.-International passenger demand in February was 88.7% below February 2019, a further drop from the 85.7% year-to-year decline recorded in...
Read MoreSingapore will next month accept visitors who use a mobile travel pass containing digital certificates for COVID-19 tests and vaccines, its aviation regulator said on Monday, becoming one of the first countries to adopt the initiative. Singapore will accept the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mobile travel pass for pre-departure checks, where travelers can get clearance to fly to and enter Singapore by showing a smartphone application containing their data from accredited laboratories. FILE PHOTO: People look at a Singapore Airlines plane, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a viewing gallery of the Changi Airport in Singapore. REUTERS/Edgar Su The pass was successfully tested by Singapore Airlines. More than 20 carriers, including Emirates, Q...
Read MoreGlobal airline industry body IATA said on Wednesday a digital travel pass for COVID-19 test results and vaccine certificates would be launched on the Apple platform in mid-April. The digital travel pass, currently in the testing phase, had been planned to be launched by the end of March. IATA Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East Kamil Alawadhi said it was expected to launch on the Apple platform around April 15, and later for the Android platform. “But the application will only achieve its success once airlines, different countries, airports adopt it,” Alawadhi said. UK-based carrier Virgin Atlantic said on Friday it would trial the IATA app on its London to Barbados route from April 16. Barbados has said it will accept the pass at its border, one of the ...
Read MoreEurope’s airlines and travel sector are bracing for a second lost summer, with rebound hopes increasingly challenged by a hobbled COVID-19 vaccine rollout, resurgent infections and new lockdowns. Airline and travel stocks fell on Friday after Paris and much of northern France shut down for a month, days after Italy introduced stiff business and movement curbs for most of the country including Rome and Milan. The setbacks hit recovery prospects for the crucial peak season, whose profits typically tide airlines through winter, when most carriers lose money even in good times. “If there’s no confidence there, demand just doesn’t come back,” said Dublin-based Alton Aviation consultant Leah Ryan, who expects the bad news on vaccines and lockdowns to hurt already weak bookings. FILE PHOTO...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the arrival at London’s Heathrow Airport of the first traveler using the IATA Travel Pass app to manage their travel health credentials. “The successful implementation of IATA Travel Pass in this trial with Singapore Airlines passengers demonstrates that technology can securely, conveniently and efficiently help travelers and governments to manage travel health credentials. The significance of this to re-starting international aviation cannot be overstated,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. JoAnn Tan, Acting Senior Vice President, Marketing Planning, Singapore Airlines, said: “Digital health credentials will be essential as borders reopen and travel restrictions get progressively lifted worldw...
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