Airlines offer passengers health passes to steer out of Covid crisis

Five global airlines are to start offering passengers use of a digital health pass to certify they are Covid-free before travel, as the sector seeks to navigate its way out of a historic collapse in passenger demand. United, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss International Air Lines and JetBlue will begin rolling out the so-called CommonPass to passengers on some flights from December.  The project, developed by non-profit group The Commons Project and backed by the World Economic Forum, uses a digital certificate downloaded to a mobile phone to show a passenger has tested negative for Covid-19. Users can then use the certificate as proof of a negative test if the country they are visiting requires one. The airlines are not making the CommonPass mandatory, but in time it will also be used to provide proof of vaccination. Passengers crossing most international borders currently face lengthy quarantine periods upon arrival but several countries including the UK are moving towards using testing to shorten and potentially eliminate the need for self-isolation. “Reliable testing, combined with digital health passes, is another way to restore customer confidence and safely restore air travel,” said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue president. Airline industry group IATA is also working on a digital health pass alongside BA owner IAG, with a launch expected in the first quarter of next year. On Tuesday Iata warned that global airlines faced combined losses of $118.5b this year, deeper than the $84.3b forecast in June, and $39b next year. Passenger numbers are forecast to fall 60% on last year to 1.3b. “We need to get borders safely reopened without quarantine so that people will fly again,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA CE. “And with airlines expected to bleed cash at least until the fourth quarter of 2021 there is no time to lose.”<br/>