KUALA LUMPUR: Local airlines have jointly agreed on the concept of digital travel passes (DTPs), which will streamline travel procedures for travellers by expediting Covid-19 tests and vaccine certifications.
Market observers said DTPs would expedite travel recovery and promote a safer travelling environment, integrating seamless journeys across various touchpoints from the self-bag drop, security and temperature screenings and immigration checks.
Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) director general Subhas Menon said airlines members were hopeful of implementing DTPs across their network amid the ongoing trialling of various options.
"Given the complex processes and multiple requirements, DTP offer a way to meet them and make it seamless for travellers.
"DTP is a tool, but first governments must provide digital health certificates and sanction digital identity credentialing before DTP can be effective as well as agree on standard formats following the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines," he told the New Straits Times (NST) recently.
Subhas said travel policies and health requirements for travel must be streamlined and consistent.
"Otherwise travel will not be attractive as travellers will have to cope with uncertainty and anxiety about travelling abroad.
"All passenger surveys indicate that people prefer contactless and seamless journeys. It saves time, is safer and provides control to the individual traveller for his journey," he added.
Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) said the digital travel health pass fitted into the overall scheme of the airline's digital transformation strategy.
"We proactively work towards revolutionising customers' experience through contactless features, among others, to adapt to the ever-changing travel needs and preferences of customers.
"Malaysia Airlines is among the first in the world to undertake the trial of the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Travel Pass app.
"We understand the importance of streamlining travel requirements once borders reopen by allowing passengers travelling to or from Malaysia to manage their Covid-19 tests or vaccine certification digitally," the airlines' spokesperson told NST.
He said MAB has successfully conducted trials for selected flights out of Kuala Lumpur to London, Narita and Melbourne routes since April 2021.
"To ensure seamless travel domestically or when international borders are opened, the government should ensure the mutual recognition of Covid-19 tests and vaccine certificates and ensure the inter-operability of the application used across as many countries as possible."
MAB would continue to work closely with the Malaysian government to speed up and coordinate a recognised digital travel health pass that supports borders reopening in the future.
"With the successful implementation of the pass, customers will have the convenience of making appointments with certified medical partners to carry out a Covid-19 test and include their Covid-19 vaccination certificates on their mobile phones.
"More so, with the constantly developing travel policies worldwide, the digital pass can be used for passengers to conveniently verify their travel eligibility with the airline before their travel to be aware and keep them in control of the travel plans," he added.
AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat said the low-cost carrier promotes a revolutionary travel experience with the highest safety standards and embraces a fully digital mandatory check-in via Super App and soon through - FACES, facial recognition for contactless boarding.
"AirAsia has spent the period of downtime in travel over the past one-and-a-half years to improve further and revamp our flight procedures and processes," he told NST.
In the highest interest of safety and well-being of all its guests and employees, AirAsia would accept only fully-vaccinated guests on board its flights and ensure only fully-vaccinated employees operate flights and be on duty at the airport terminals.
"We assure that the highest safety standards are in place as part of our Covid-19 mitigation plan, including by accepting only fully-vaccinated guests onboard, making it mandatory to check-in via the AirAsia Super App.
"It integrates with vaccination records on MySejahtera, and soon rolling out FACES facial recognition boarding system -- making the entire journey fully digital and paperless thus further minimising possible human contact between guests and our employees," he said.
Riad said AirAsia was taking the lead by making check-in via the AirAsia Super App mandatory for all guests.
"Apart from allowing for instant health document verification through its integration with MySejahtera, this process will also allow guests to pass through the airport clearance and boarding process with an e-Boarding Pass that will significantly reduce physical interaction and paper contact, a key preventive measure in curtailing the spread of Covid-19 and other viruses."
He said AirAsia would roll out FACES to make the boarding process even more swift and efficient.
"We would like to encourage everyone to enrol into FACES now with just a few simple steps on the AirAsia Super App.
"When you're at the airport for your next flight, just approach any service counter to have your FACES verified against your travel documents, and you're good to fly without having to worry about holding any paper documents in hand," he added.
In addition to security and boarding, AirAsia would implement FACES for other touchpoints, including self-bag drop, security screening, immigration checks and more in the near future.
IATA had recently announced that six airlines (Etihad Airways, Jazeera Airways, Jetstar, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian) would implement the IATA Travel Pass app in a phased rollout across the airlines' networks.
These six airlines joined Emirates Airline as implementation pioneers of this mobile app to receive and verify a range of Covid-19 test results and digital vaccines certificates.
IATA director general Willie Walsh said the travel pass was now entering the operational phase after months of testing.