Today Amadeus, the market leader in airline ticket distribution, announced it is integrating the IBM Digital Health Pass into its digital health verification solution. The offering, Traveler ID for Safe Travel, has already been adopted by airlines including Norwegian Air and AirEuropa.
With international travel resuming, there are now a large number of competing health certificate solutions for airlines.
One of Amadeus’ Traveler ID features is how it enables airlines to match COVID-19 digital health credentials with their booking system details, verifying that a passenger is approved to fly.
The process of checking COVID-19 health documentation is creating significant delays for airlines and travelers. With countries worldwide gradually reopening to visitors, specific border entry requirements vary from country to country and are constantly changing.
Amadeus’ Safe Travel Ecosystem addresses this issue by checking border regulations of the destination country through a digital solution during online check in.
At this point, it requests health certificates from the passenger, either paper or digital, which IBM’s blockchain system can authenticate against global data from laboratories, vaccination centers and medical providers. This generates a secure digital health credential that simply lets the airline know the passenger is cleared to fly. The blockchain solution provides full passenger privacy, since neither the airline, IBM nor Amadeus stores any personal health information.
“This is another milestone in the collaboration we are driving through our Safe Travel Ecosystem. By working hand in hand with customers and partners such as IBM, we can deliver the capabilities needed by travel providers and travelers to help provide a smooth passenger journey once more,” said Christian Warneck, VP for Safe Travel Ecosystem at Amadeus.
Amadeus is one of the main travel distribution firms for airline ticket sales, commanding a market share of over 40%. It provides software solutions to airlines and the travel industry, including its Travel and Expense and Flight Management technologies.
Meanwhile, numerous other blockchain-based health credentialing projects are being trialed. There are multiple solutions targeting airlines alone. These include from IATA, SITA, GE Aviation and the ICC AOKpass.
Last month, the Linux Foundation for Public Health unveiled its Global COVID Certificate Network. The state of New York also launched its Excelsior Pass with IBM to allow reopening businesses to confirm the validity of health credentials.
