Airlines Plan ‘Travel Pass’ for International Travelers as NCAA threatens sanction

Airlines are considering a standard ‘travel pass’ criteria for international air travelers in the COVID-19 era in Nigeria.

Though the technology-driven pass aims at an efficient travel experience according to the Authority, part of the conditions will include health credentials and COVID-19 vaccination.

Similarly, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) has directed that only results from accredited private laboratories should be accepted from outbound passengers effective March 22, 2021.

Hence, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has threatened to sanction airlines that accept polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results from unapproved laboratories.

The travel pass proposal made headway when the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the arrival at London’s Heathrow Airport of the first traveler using the IATA travel pass app to manage travel health credentials.

Director-General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac, said the successful implementation of IATA travel pass in this trial with Singapore Airlines passengers demonstrated that technology could securely, conveniently and efficiently help travelers and governments to manage travel health credentials.