SINGAPORE – Singapore Airlines (SIA) has started trials on a new digital health verification process that offers customers the ability to securely store and present information related to Covid-19 tests, as well as their vaccination status in the future.
This service will initially be offered from today to customers travelling on flights operated by SIA from Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta to Singapore.
“Covid-19 tests and vaccinations will be an integral part of air travel for the foreseeable future,” said acting senior vice-president (marketing planning) Singapore Airlines JoAnn Tan in a statement today.
“We are offering a digital solution that allows the easy and secure verification of this information, and supports the industry’s safe and calibrated recovery from this pandemic,” she said.
For Malaysia, SIA listed 46 clinics across the country that issue digitally verifiable health certificates.
SIA said customers who take their Covid-19 tests at selected clinics will be given either digital or paper health certificates with a QR code.
Airport check-in staff and Singapore’s immigration authority will then be able to verify the authenticity of these certificates via a secure mobile app, and ensure that the customers meet Singapore’s entry requirements, it said.
The airline said customers without a digital certificate can also present the paper version for manual verification.
This is a faster and more secure way to validate passengers' health credentials than the existing protocols, speeding up both the airport check-in process and immigration entry process into Singapore, said SIA.
The airline said it will make it easier for its customers to control their information, reduce friction during their travel journey and result in a more seamless experience with the aid of digital technologies in the new normal.
If successful, SIA said this could be extended to other cities in its route network. – Bernama, December 23, 2020
