Air Serbia one of the first in Europe to trial IATA travel pass

Air Serbia, in cooperation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), from the beginning of April will start testing the IATA digital passport ("IATA Travel Pass"), a mobile application which helps passengers organize their travels simply and safely in accordance with the regulations of countries pertaining to COVID-19 testing or vaccination. In this manner, the Serbian national airline will be one of the first airlines in Europe to become a part of the global initiative, whose goal is the re-opening of borders without quarantines, as well as guaranteeing safe travels and the recovery of tourism and the aviation industry.

The first stage of the trial will be carried out on Air Serbia flights between Belgrade and Zurich, it will last several weeks, and passengers will be invited to participate.

"We are proud to be among the first in the world to test the digital passport. Once again, we have confirmed our dedication to protecting the safety, health and well-being of passengers, as well as to creating an integrated and seamless user experience," said Duncan Naysmith, Air Serbia CEO. "This innovative IATA solution is an extraordinary initiative, which will provide the passengers with the certainty that they meet all necessary requirements to enter different parts of the world. We owe great gratitude to the Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera "Torlak" from Belgrade. They will be directly connected with IATA and without their support and collaboration this pilot project would not be possible."

IATA Travel Pass will allow passengers to store and manage data about COVID-19 test results on their phones, as well as to share their verified status with the airline, in a safe and secure manner, before arriving to the airport. The IATA digital passport will also provide up-to-date information about health regulations in regard to the coronavirus, helping passengers verify whether they meet the latest requirements to enter the destination country.

"We're proud to work with Air Serbia make IATA Travel Pass available in Europe. This is the first step in making European and international travel during the pandemic as convenient as possible giving people the confidence that they are meeting all COVID-19 entry requirements by governments. As borders re-open, IATA Travel Pass will be further enhanced with more capabilities to meet all governments testing or vaccination verification requirements and Air Serbia's customers will be among the first to have these services," said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA's Regional Vice President for Europe.

Air Serbia passengers will have the opportunity to easily and simply create their digital passport. After testing and/or vaccination, national reference laboratories will send protected information into the user's app in a safe manner. IATA Travel Pass will then compare the necessary requirements for travel with the input user data, and all who meet the conditions for their desired destination will get a green light for travel. The application, as a safe place for storing health information, will not only accelerate the check-in process for flights, but will also create the potential for contactless travel in the future.