Have 1 Covid-19 travel ‘passport’ for all, says AirAsia president

 

AirAsia says one standard travel pass will make it easier for the industry to recover. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia has welcomed the idea of using digital Covid-19 passports but is hoping for an international agreement to adopt a single travel pass.

AirAsia Group president Bo Lingam said the use of Covid passports would help revive international travel, but added: “The sooner the governments and the aviation industry can confirm the best standardised globally approved solution, the better and easier it is for the resumption of travel.

“Otherwise, passengers and airlines will end up with multiple travel passes.”

Singapore authorities recently said the island state would, from next month, allow incoming travellers to use the travel pass adopted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to share pre-departure Covid-19 test results with airlines and immigration staff.

Bo Lingam.

The IATA pass is one of many standardised digital passports that will allow people to travel without restrictions and serves as a possible solution for the aviation sector. It allows travellers to store Covid-19 test results from accredited laboratories.

Lingam said the adoption of the IATA pass has been done mostly on an airline basis so far. To ensure the effectiveness of the travel pass or any other digital travel passport, it is important for the solution to be globally recognised.

“Along with the rollout of vaccines across the globe, better testing and education and the formation of leisure travel bubbles between low-risk countries, a globally approved digital passport is important for the recovery of international air travel,” he said.

If Malaysia were to decide to use a digital Covid passport, he said, the plan should be well-coordinated at the national and regional levels.

“It may be IATA’s solution or it may be another one from Malaysia or even Asean. What really matters is an outcome that governments and global health and key industry authorities agree upon.”

Rosli Azad Khan, the managing director of a traffic consultancy group, said the government should just adopt the IATA pass instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

Rosli Azad Khan.

“IATA is a worldwide airline association. Its digital solutions are for all members,” he said.

He said the IATA pass would be safer to use than a vaccine passport because its digital app requires a PCR or rapid antigen test result.

“A vaccine passport would not work,” he told FMT. “Individuals who have been vaccinated might still be Covid-19 positive and carry the virus.

“Test results are more reassuring. This way, only those who test negative are allowed to travel.” - FMT