Ethiopian Joins African Union to Launch Trusted Travel Pass Program

March 17/2021(ENA)  Ethiopian Airlines has partnered with the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) for the implementation of the African Union Trusted Travel Pass to make continental travel easier and safer amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a press release of the airline, the Trusted Travel Pass Program will ensure that country regulations regarding COVID-19 travel requirements are met with minimal room for error and hassle to the traveling public.

Africa CDC has mobilized a broad multi-stakeholder public private partnership with the help of its strategic partners, the PanaBIOS Consortium and Econet, and with the objective of addressing current challenges posed by citizens and institutions difficulty in accessing accurate health information, high costs and inconveniences in cross border travel, and poor data for health policy and bio-security planning. 

Customers of Ethiopian Airlines will now enjoy hassle free travel experience with their travel pass helping them verify whether their medical information meets various COVID-19 regulations of their destination, the release added.

It is to be recalled that Ethiopian Airlines has been the pioneer in introducing new technologies to make travel contactless and convenient in an effort to curb the spread of the pandemic and restore passengers confidence in air travel.

Statement of the airline stated that the partnership considerably deepens this longstanding tradition by boosting the safety of passengers and nations alike, and reaffirms Ethiopian’s strong commitment to being a major part of the African pandemic recovery effort.

 “We are offering new digital opportunities to our passengers so as to fully and safely restore air travel. We are pleased to have introduced a digital platform that will be pivotal in increasing the number of passengers while making air travel safer,” Ethiopian Airlines Chief Information Officer Getnet Tadesse said.

The trusted travel pass solution will help to validate test and vaccination certificates and verify that they are sufficient for their route and share testing or vaccination certificates with airlines and authorities to facilitate travel, it was learned.

The solution will also avoid fraudulent documentation and make air travel more convenient.

Africa CDC Director, Dr. John Nkengasong welcomed Ethiopian's pioneering spirit and underscored how such partnerships are critical in the present context.