Shawn Richards is founder and CEO of Ink Aviation whose Digital Health Platform is currently being trialled by the Philippine Airport Diagnostic Laboratory (PADLAB) across multiple locations including Manila Airport and Clark Airport.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the aviation industry has been searching for a viable way to enable people to travel safely while limiting the spread of the virus across international borders.
In the UK, the government announced a ‘test to release’ programme as an alternative to quarantine and could possibly scrap quarantine measures altogether for business travellers in early 2021. However, for ‘test to release’ systems to work, the industry needs a quick and reliable way of screening travellers for Covid-19 and documenting it, and we need it now.
The safe reopening of borders requires collaboration between governments, airlines, airports, immigration systems, testing laboratories and travellers. Test results, and soon, vaccine information, need to be shared securely between all these parties – and a number of digital health passport providers are promising to deliver a way for travellers to prove they have received a negative Covid-19 test result before they fly.
Until recently, this global framework has not been available, making it difficult and risky for governments to allow passengers to travel without quarantining on arrival and/or return.
Collaboration between all parties involved in the pre-departure testing process allows airports, airlines and border control teams to easily vet passengers’ health status by scanning the individual’s secure QR code or using facial biometrics.
With a collaborative framework in place, a passenger will be able to be tested for Covid-19 and rapidly receive their results directly to their smartphone or tablet.
The results will be stored in the passenger’s chosen digital health wallet and made accessible by a QR code that is recognised by immigration and departure control systems (DCS).
For this process to work effectively, airports and border control teams need an immediately available solution that can be seamlessly integrated into their immigration system and DCS without heavy costs or disruption to existing infrastructure.
As an industry, it is vital we work quickly because the virus spreads so rapidly. Digital health passports prove passengers' suitability to travel right before they fly and allow immigration departments at the destination airport to know everyone incoming has a negative test result.
Equally, for the successful and fast adoption of digital health passport solutions by the general public, passengers need to be able to trust that their data will only be shared with the necessary parties. Collaborating with trusted health technology providers means secure encrypted healthcare solutions can be developed, ensuring passengers’ security and data privacy.
Once we have a streamlined pre-departure testing process in place and traveller numbers begin to return to ‘normal’ levels, there will still be an expectation for airports and airlines to limit the risk of contamination and reduce touch points for passengers. Travellers will want the airport experience to remain largely contactless.
This is where truly integrated digital health solutions have a dual benefit. A collaborative pre-departure solution will bring together a passenger’s travel documentation, including declaration form, boarding pass, digital health passport and vaccination records.
This means the passenger can store all their travel documents on one device, moving frictionlessly through the airport identifying themselves and proving their fitness to fly by scanning their QR code or using biometrics.
Using this technology, the passenger’s travel documents do not need to be passed between any other hands as they travel through the airport and onto the aircraft.
Until Covid-19 vaccines have been successfully rolled out, we need to find ways to restart the global economy while limiting the spread of the virus.
Travel is essential for business and the sooner airports, airlines and governments can adopt a framework that enables people to travel safely without quarantining, the sooner the world can get back on its feet.