Airlines Test Secure Digital Health Pass

International trials are starting this week for CommonPass, a digital health pass for travelers that will securely document their certified COVID-19 test status while keeping their health data private. 

Tests of the system will be conducted in October with select volunteers aboard Cathay Pacific Airways and United Airlines flights between London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, with government authorities observing. 

Further deployment is planned with additional airlines and routes across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East in quick succession.

CommonPass is an initiative of the Commons Project Foundation, a Switzerland-based nonprofit, and the World Economic Forum. CommonPass is built on the CommonPass Framework that establishes standard methods for lab results and vaccination records to be certified.

This enables governments to set and verify their own health criteria for travelers. The purpose of CommonPass and the CommonPass Framework is to enable safer airline and cross-border travel by giving both travelers and governments confidence in each traveler’s verified COVID-19 status. 

Diane Sabatino, deputy executive director, Office of Field Operations for the US Customs and Border Protection, said, “CBP wants to be part of the solution to build confidence in air travel, and we are glad to help the aviation industry and our federal partners stand up a pilot like CommonPass.”