‘Vaccine Passport’ May Help International Travel Rebound

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) plans to launch a digital "vaccine passport" program in the next few months to help international travel to resume amid the pandemic, according to a senior official at the association. But whether such verification could be accepted worldwide depends on decisions by individual governments.

The IATA Travel Pass, which certifies that a passenger has tested negative for Covid-19 or has received an inoculation, can be used as proof to allow passengers to board planes, according to Ma Tao, IATA’s vice president for North Asia. It would be very similar to the health code implemented in China and would be used as a personal electronic pass, Ma said.

Development of the digital pass has entered the final stage, and IATA expects the system to be launched in the first quarter next year, according to Ma.

Several international airline companies expressed support for the program and said it would be a key measure to help reboot international air travel, which has been dramatically reduced by the pandemic. Passenger carriers including Australia’s Qantas Airways and Korean Air said they are considering requiring certain vaccine certificates from passengers.

Countries including Britain, the U.S. and Canada recently approved public use of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Mass vaccination is underway, though experts said it will take months amid production and logistics challenges.

But it will depend on each government’s decision whether to require mandatory vaccination of citizens and whether to require that passengers be vaccinated to enter or leave a country, Ma said.

“Airlines can only comply,” he said.

The pandemic has dealt a disastrous blow to the aviation industry amid border closures and quarantine policies. IATA’s latest forecasts show that with passenger demand plummeting 66% this year, the industry’s annual passenger revenue will fall 67% from 2019. IATA projects that severe industrywide losses will continue through 2021.

Resuming international travel is critical to the recovery of the global airline industry. But some industry insiders said that while vaccinations offer a slice of hope for the airline industry, it’s unclear whether vaccinations will become a compulsory requirement for international travel. And questions like how effective the vaccines will be and whether governments will recognize vaccinations from other countries remain unanswered.

"Ultimately, it is up to the governments to determine if they will greenlight inbound flights with (the vaccine passport), and when vaccines become available, governments may replace post-entry quarantine observation by requiring vaccination,” an employee at a state-owned airline told Caixin.

Although positive news from vaccines have encouraged airlines to resume more flights, entering China will remain difficult at the current stage as regulators see high risks of imported cases, according to sources close to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

"Even with a vaccine, international flight policies will not be relaxed in the short term, and it is still possible China won’t liberalize various prevention and control initiatives until after the global pandemic is under control," one person said.

The number of international flights in China has plummeted by more than 90% since the CAAC implemented a policy to control international flights in late March. The rule limits all domestic airlines to one international flight per week to each country, while foreign airlines can fly into China no more than once per week.

Since November, China’s aviation regulator has further tightened rules for international flights, requiring incoming passengers to submit negative results of both nucleic acid and IgM antibody tests within 48 hours before boarding a flight. If travelers have a layover in a third country, they must also obtain proof of the same tests from the transit country, making it more challenging for travelers entering the country via transfers.

Contact editors Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).

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