IATA urges support for common European digital vaccine certificate
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged all branches of the EU to support an initiative proposed by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to agree upon a common digital European COVID-19 vaccination certificate. The IATA hopes that it would enable those who are vaccinated to travel freely within Europe without COVID-19 testing results. In the letter directed to the president of the European Commission, the IATA noted that the initiative should be urgently adopted by the Commission and by all EU member states. It also stated that a pan-European vaccination certificate that is mutually recognised would be a key step forward in giving governments the confidence to safely open their borders.
The IATA is in the final phase of development of its Travel Pass, a mobile app that travelers can store and manage their verified certification of COVID-19 tests or vaccines. The organisation recently announced that it launched a partnership with Etihad Airways – the national airline of United Arab Emirates – and Emirates Airline to launch Travel Pass.