Qatar Airways Trials IATA Travel Pass ‘Digital Passport’ Mobile App

Saturday 13th of March 2021

In partnership with International Air Transport Association (IATA), Qatar Airways announces the commencement of trials of the new innovative IATA Travel Pass ‘Digital Passport’ mobile app making it the first airlines in the Middle East to initiate the step. The drive was supported by Qatar Ministry of Public Health, Primary Health Care Corporation and Hamad Medical Corporation.

The award-winning airlines rolled out the ‘Digital Passport’ experience on March 11 to passengers flying on route Doha – Istanbul. This application is a necessary step towards the airline’s vision to have a more contactless, secure and seamless travel experience for its passengers. IATA Travel Pass ensures passengers receive up-to-date information on COVID-19 health regulations at their destination country, as well as complying with strict global data privacy regulations to enable the sharing of COVID-19 test results with airlines to verify they are eligible to undertake their journey.

Speaking about the initiative, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said that the airlines is confident in the credibility of the IATA Travel Pass as the industry’s most reliable and innovative solution given its strong data privacy compliance, long-standing entry rules engine and ability to provide an end-to-end solution. He also stressed on the efforts of the airlines in leading safety, innovation and customer experience in the industry as a firm advocate for introducing digital solutions to help passengers safely and seamlessly navigate complex and ever-changing entry restrictions across the globe.

His Excellency believes that the platform ‘will also assist in laying the foundation for governments across the world to come together in the development of standardized regulations to reduce the current patchwork of red tape across the international travel industry.’

IATA travel pass is a token of proof that ICAO’s global standards for digital passports do work. In partnership with the World Health Organization, IATA is also engaged in helping to define a standardized vaccine certificate that will be necessary for the opening of borders and scalable increase of global travel.

Qatar Airways has been recognized in numerous ways for being an industry pioneer, even at the unfortunate events of the world shutting down. It is the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by international air transport rating organization, Skytrax. This follows HIA’s recent success as the first and only airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar continues to rebuild its network, which currently stands at over 130 destinations. With more frequencies being added to key hubs, Qatar Airways offers unrivalled connectivity to passengers, making it easy for them to travel when they need to.