The new travel reality: Vaccine required
Some cruise companies are now mandating that passengers be vaccinated. Could airlines and countries be next?
By Christopher Muther Globe Staff,Updated February 25, 2021, 12:00 p.m.
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The beleaguered travel industry is pinning its hopes on vaccinations, and vaccination passports, to help return to profitability.Ali Cobanoglu/Handout
You donât need to be Nostradamus to foresee how the travel industry plans to win back the trust and confidence of skittish vacationers who have scuttled plans for the past year due to COVID-19. It involves a needle, inoculation, and then proof that a vaccine has been administered.
The federal government plans to complete the vaccination rollout to all adult Australians who wish to have the jab by October.
Travel industry leaders expect COVID-19 immunisation will become mandatory for international flights once vaccines have been widely distributed, with Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce saying in November it would be a requirement to fly on his airline. Incoming travellers to Australia already have to provide evidence they tested negative to COVID-19 within 72 hours of their departure.
Air New Zealand will be one of the first airlines to use the International Air Transport Association’s Travel Pass app, which passengers link to their e-passport and will carry verified copies of test results and – in the future – vaccination records.
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Copa Airlines and Panama s government next month will begin a trial with the International Air Transport Association s Travel Pass mobile app.
Sometime in March, travelers on select Copa flights from Panama City will be able to create a digital passport that matches their itineraries with the health requirements of their destination and validate that the passengers are in compliance with those requirements. IATA Travel Pass also will include a registry of Covid-19 testing centers and eventually vaccination centers and enable testing centers and labs to securely send test results and vaccination certificates to users.
Copa is the first carrier in the Americas to test the Travel Pass app, according to IATA. International Airlines Group, parent company of British Airways and Iberia, also has been working with IATA on the project.