Dubai’s flagship airline Emirates has started trialing an International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass. It is a mobile app designed to help passengers share their Covid-19 test results with airlines and travel authorities.

Passengers traveling from Dubai to Barcelona on flight EK185 were the first to use the “digital passport“ to keep the information transparent and available to Emirates. Flights from Dubai to Barcelona and London Heathrow to Dubai were chosen as starting points for the application’s trial.

Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer, said: “The ability to process passengers’ COVID-19 relevant data for travel digitally will be the way forward. We are pleased to have been pioneers and partner with IATA in trialing this initiative in real-time and soon will be launching other initiatives to further enhance our customer experience.”

The application only supports uploading information about the test results, but it will soon be upgraded with a function allowing to share vaccination certificates. It will also have an integrated registry of travel requirements and a registry of testing centres and labs at passengers’ departure locations.