EU plan for Covid travel pass by summer seen as tall order

The EU faces a tough task in seeking to introduce so-called Covid-19 passports by June to get people traveling again, according to the owner of France’s busiest airport. The slow progress and uncoordinated roll-out of health passes already under development at airlines and other companies suggest the bloc’s target is “very, very ambitious,” said Franck Le Gall, operations chief at Groupe ADP, which runs dozens of hubs including Paris-Charles de Gaulle. The EU’s executive arm this week cleared the way for the introduction of a Digital Green Certificate providing proof that holders have been vaccinated, recovered from the coronavirus or recently tested negative. The passes are meant to facilitate trips both inside and outside the bloc, striking a balance between tourism-dependent states eager to reopen their borders and countries like France and Germany that have adopted a more cautious stance. The move comes just as numerous mobile application-based systems are already in the pipeline, including the IATA’s Travel Pass, the AOKpass from travel-security firm International SOS, Daon’s VeriFly and the World Economic Forum-backed CommonPass.<br/>