Health pass: development gathers pace

National authorities, airlines, airports and even hotel groups: all these stakeholders in business travel are speeding up the deployment of solutions for organising business travel. a return to as "normal" an activity as possible. And they did so with different partners, following different options, but with a common desire: to reopen the tourism sector while ensuring the safety of their customers or residents with a simple, technological solution for proving vaccination or a negative test.

Since the beginning of the year, a series of experiments have been carried out, and the actual implementation of these experiments is taking shape with each passing day. The timetables are becoming more precise. So, while the European Union has presented the outlines of its green certificate on 17 MarchIt is due to be launched before 15 June. While this solution is aimed at facilitating travel - in this case within Europe - others are primarily aimed at simplifying everyday life.

In the United States, on 2 April, the State of New York launched the Excelsior digital health pass, which is free to use and voluntary. Based on IBM technology recently tested at sporting events, notably at Madison Square Garden, this digital pass will allow residents of the State to easier access to stadiums, concert halls and theatresIt's also a great way to attend events such as cocktail parties and weddings. " The innovative Excelsior Pass is a new element in our toolbox to combat the virus while allowing more sectors to reopen safely and keeping personal information secure too" said the Governor of the State, Andrew Cuomo.

Other cities, regions and countries will no doubt follow this trend in the future, which is helping to revive the events sector. In the same vein, certain hotel groups, particularly in the United States, are planning to ensuring the safety of meetings and other corporate events by using Covid tests. " As more and more customers book face-to-face meetings and events, there has been a marked increase in questions about screening options for participants. " says Frank Passanante, Hilton Worldwide's senior vice president of sales for the Americas. In the United States, Hilton and Marriott to meet the expectations of the organisers. Closer to home, Radisson Group joined the movement at the beginning of April with a test programme for its hotels in the EMEA zone.

As part of its Meetings and Events business, Hyatt Group is going one step further, and will shortly be testing the VeriFly digital pass in the United States, used by American Airlines and British Airways, among others. It is of course within the airline sector, which is primarily affected by all these health measures that are increasing the number of formalities required, that the most significant advances. Each company in turn is testing the solutions developed for them. For example, since mid-March, Air France, Air Caraïbes, Corsair and French Bee experiment on routes to the French West Indies AOK Passone of the first digital certificates to be offered.

Other initiatives of this kind have been unveiled very recently. Taiwanese carrier EVA Air, for example, will be using the digital platform developed by Affinidi to check PCR tests on its flights from Singapore to Taipei. For its part, All Nippon Airwyas (ANA) began testing the Common Pass app on 29 March on its Tokyo Haneda- New York route.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is making life simpler for passengers his great hobbyhorseThis is reflected in the development of its digital Travel Pass, which will be downloadable from 15 April for iPhone owners before Android smartphones can also benefit. Several airlines, including Singapore Airlines and those of the Gulf are already experimenting with this solution, while new carriers are converting to the system promoted by the Association, including Hong Kong Airlines and Korean Air, which will be testing it in May on its flights between Seoul Incheon and Los Angeles.

Some companies are exploring several parallel tracks Like Virgin Atlantic, which has been using the Trust Assure digital pass on its routes from Heathrow to the United States since 29 March. From 16 April, it will be the turn of IATA's Travel Pass to be tested between London and Bardade. " In parallel with the UK's successful vaccination programme, and as restrictions gradually easedWe see this route as one that will soon enable the safe resumption of large-scale international travel, in time for the summer." said Corneel Koster, Virgin Atlantic's Chief Customer Officer.

Attentive to these aspects, British Airways is stepping up its initiatives. The British airline, which is testing the Verifly app on its flights between London and the United States, has extended the possibility of containing the travel documents of nine people in a single smartphone, rather than one person per device as previously, making life easier for families or groups of friends. But its desire to simplify the customer journey is not just about providing a third-party application.

Since mid-March, on its routes between London and India, British Airways has been offering passengers the option of integrating their documents into their travel documents. directly on its website. In practice, customers receive an e-mail three days before departure directing them to the "Manage my booking" function on the BA website. Passengers can then enter all the required documents, with the airline guaranteeing to certify within six hours that the passenger meets the conditions for entry into India.

" We already offer access to the VeriFLY travel app on some routes and IAG has been involved in the development of the Travel Pass with IATA. Now it's time to look at what we can offer on our own website.commented Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways. Le main advantage of this ability to upload the correct travel documents to their booking is that it allows customers to check in online, speeding up the process at the airport.  "