Passengers travelling to Singapore by air will be able to use the International Air Transport Association (IATA) travel pass from May 1, as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and IATA.
Passengers will be able to share their pre-departure COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results with their airline during check-in and on-arrival at the immigration checkpoints at Changi Airport, said CAAS and IATA on Monday (Apr 5).
“This is part of an ongoing collaboration between CAAS and IATA to facilitate seamless and efficient travel through digital certificates of COVID-19 tests,” they said.
The IATA travel pass is a mobile app that can be used by passengers to obtain and store their COVID-19 test results from accredited laboratories.
Last month, Singapore Airlines (SIA) tested IATA’s travel pass on passengers travelling from Singapore to London between Mar 15 and Mar 28. The airline said the app was well received by their customers and noted that they were open to using the app for international travel in the future.
Following SIA’s trials, CAAS and IATA said Singapore’s health and border control authorities will accept the travel pass as a valid form of presentation of COVID-19 pre-departure tests for entry into the country.
“The information presented on the IATA travel pass will be in a format that satisfies Singapore’s prevailing COVID-19 pre-departure test requirements for entry into Singapore,” said the authorities, adding that they will be working on further enhancements to the travel pass.
This includes enabling QR code scanning by immigration officers. Back-end transmission of health credentials from the travel pass to the airlines and immigration authorities’ systems for pre-boarding and pre-arrival clearance will be included, as well as including digital vaccination certificates on the travel pass.
The travel pass will be available for download in the second half of April and is currently being trialled by more than 20 airlines, including SIA.
Those who are travelling to Singapore and intend to use the travel pass should check with the airline they are travelling with for eligibility to use the travel pass, said CAAS and IATA.
