Philippine Airlines said Wednesday it will launch the Travel Pass mobile app of the International Air Transport Association to help international passengers manage COVID-era health requirements for safer and more convenient travel experience.
PAL and IATA will conduct a trial run of the new digital technology on the Philippine flag carrier's flights from Manila to Los Angeles and Singapore on select dates from May to June 2021.
"We want to make it simple for our customers to travel safely. The IATA Travel Pass will help them verify that they comply with health rules and COVID test requirements, so they can board our flights with assurance and confidence," said PAL president and chief operating officer Gilbert Santa Maria.
Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president airport, passenger, cargo and security said restarting international aviation safely is at the forefront of IATA’s Travel Pass initiative.
"We are proud to partner with Philippines Airlines – the first airline in the Philippines – to trial the app and demonstrate that this technology can securely, conveniently and efficiently help manage passenger travel health credentials,” he said.
PAL said the trial of the IATA Travel Pass is in line with the Department of Tourism's efforts to harness digital solutions for a safe reopening of Philippine tourism.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat earlier said that once the country's adoption of the IATA Travel Pass is put into motion, the DOT would safely reopen tourist destinations to international visitors and revive the tourism industry as a whole “when the time is right."
"We welcome this initiative as a travel tool that will lead to a more convenient travel experience for our customers. That's what we aspire to give our passengers: Safe, contactless travel, enabled by technology,” said PAL vice president for IT services Angelique Tinsay.
The IATA Travel Pass is a global-standard mobile app that validates and authenticates regulations of all countries on passenger health requirements for travel.
