Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis a year ago now, travel formalities have been evolving day by day.
Presentation of a negative test is now mandatory for most international travel, but verification of these tests, often presented in paper format, takes time.
The ICC AOKpass mobile application, developed in March 2020 by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in partnership with SGS and International SOS, a service company that offers medical prevention services, is trying to establish itself on the market.
For several months, AOKpass has been in talks with no less than 170 airports around the world and Air France today announces the launch of an ICC AOKpass test program.
This mobile application, available on smartphones, will thus allow passengers to securely record the results of their Covid test carried out in a partner laboratory of the company.
Read also: The vaccine, the new sesame for travel?
In practice
Once at the airport, passengers present their smartphone instead of a paper test.
The "ICC AOKpass" then checks that the test presented is valid and complies with the regulations of the country of destination via a secure network.
Lasting four weeks and carried out with the support of Paris Aéroport, this test will begin on March 11, 2021 on all Air France flights from Paris-CDG to Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe) and Fort-de-France (Martinique).
It will be carried out solely on a voluntary basis, in order to test the functioning of the application in real conditions and to collect the opinions of test clients.
Air France will share this feedback with the other companies in the Skyteam alliance, which are currently testing various solutions for digitizing health documents.
For Catherine Villar, Customer Experience Director - Air France:
“The test of the ICC AOKpass solution is fully in line with this framework and in the process launched by the implementation of the Air France Protect label.
We are convinced that the changes we are going through collectively will permanently modify the journey and we are committed to supporting all innovation projects that can help us meet these new challenges.
"
And the French company is not the only one to set up this system in the Antilles.
As of February 17, the two airlines of the Dubreuil Group, Air Caraïbes and the low cost long-haul French bee, announced that they were going to test the “ICC AOKpass” application from March between Orly and the overseas territories.
Some airlines will be offering their "Travel Pass" from the end of March
A vaccination passport, the future "pass" for tourism?
The idea is gaining ground in a world still locked in by travel restrictions.
Nattakorn / stock.adobe.com
While several countries are introducing vaccine passports for travel, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) wants to believe in the resumption of traffic thanks to this “all-in-one” mobile application.
This “all-in-one” digital passport, the Travel Pass, will be ready by the end of March, announces Iata.
Presented in the form of a mobile application, it is intended to be a digitalization solution for all travel formalities, from the most classic to the certified Covid test, including proof of the double dose of vaccine.
The Travel Pass is currently being tested with passengers from the IAG Group (British Airways, Iberia) and Singapore Airlines.
But to date, out of the 290 Aita approved airlines that handle 82% of global air traffic, only eighteen of them, including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, have already signed user protocols.
At Air France, we say we are following this development very closely.
"We are in favor of this digitization which has two advantages: improving the fluidity of airport operations, and preventing fraud,"
the company's management informed
Le Figaro
on February 17
.
While waiting for a return to normal in air transport, Air France applies the most stringent health measures and offers its customers total flexibility of their tickets, with the possibility of postponing or canceling any planned trip free of charge and without proof. before December 31, 2021. These measures are regularly reviewed according to the evolution of the situation and which recently enabled Air France to obtain 4 stars in the Skytrax “COVID-19 Safety Rating” classification.
Read also: Vaccination passport: some airlines will be offering their “Travel Pass” from the end of March
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