For most of 2020, border restrictions and quarantines impeded the airline industry's recovery. "Governments reopening and then closing borders or removing and then re-imposing quarantines does not give many consumers confidence to make travel plans, nor airlines to rebuild schedules," International Air Transport Association director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said in September.
Enter CommonPass, a digital passport that certifies incoming travelers' Covid-19 test status, providing governments a tool to safely reopen and manage borders. The digital passport was developed by Switzerland-based non-profit The Commons Project Foundation and the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with a coalition of public and private organizations, which include airports, airlines and government representatives form more than 50 countries.
The passport enables travelers to show to crossborder authorities and airline staff in a manner compliant with privacy regulations their Covid-19 test status on a scannable unique QR code on a mobile phone. "It verifies that a traveler has been tested, but it's not stored or conveyed to an airline or government," Commons Project Foundation CEO Paul Meyer said. "It complies with [General Data Protection Regulation] and the other data-privacy requirements."
CommonPass also is designed to serve as a global standard for crossborder authorities to use to screen passengers for Covid-19. Now, travelers demonstrate their Covid-19 status with a printed paper or photos of the paper from possibly unknown labs, without a standard format or certification. To use CommonPass, travelers would take a Covid-19 test at certified labs, upload their test results to their phone and complete the health screening questionnaires required by their destination country.
In October, The Commons Project successfully trialed the digital passport with Cathay Pacific and United Airlines for flights between Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and New York, with multiple government authorities observing. The rollout is expanding to additional airlines and routes in quick succession. In December, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic will roll out CommonPass on select flights, according to The Commons Project.
A broader deployment is planned for 2021 and is designed to incorporate a traveler's vaccine status for Covid-19 and other diseases.