Page 39 - World Airnews Magazine August 2020

FEATURE

the visit and their travel within country might be asked to undertake additional

might be restricted to minimise any risk of screening or testing on arrival.
movement into higher risk areas. This also Post-travel, governments can also use the

supports the passenger by providing clarity information collected to provide passenger
and enabling them to plan their travel. outreach support by identifying passengers

The second step is about collecting Ad- who might have come into contact with

vance Passenger Information (API) and trav- someone with the virus during their journey.
el booking data or PNR data as it’s called, For example, they will have data on
from the airlines before travel. This enables where people were sitting on the aircraft,

the government to do additional risk assess- as well as their contact information to trace

ments, including whether the passengers them and request them to isolate or go for
are travelling from high risk areas. testing, if they were sitting near someone

We don’t see that health information who subsequently was identified as having

will be incorporated into this data in the the virus. The risk status of the travel cor-

short term, but this might be something ridor can also be re-assessed in real-time
that happens in the future. This will require using this data, enabling countries to react
governments to come together with the quickly if an outbreak occurs.

airlines to define standards in this area. TRUST AND COLLABORATION
RISK ASSESSMENT Collaboration between governments,

The third, and maybe most critical step, airports and airlines will be vital for travel

is at the point of check-in, where the corridors to work effectively. They will be
government can pre-clear a passenger to placing trust in each other to ensure risks

fly in real-time. Governments who have are managed effectively, and real-time data
an Advance Passenger Processing, or The final step is on arrival at the destina- is required to respond to issues with speed.

interactive API, solution in place can deny tion airport and at the border control point Standards are also important to ensure

boarding of a passenger who is deemed itself. In the airport terminal we should all stakeholders are working in the same
high risk, or for example, has not complet- expect to see special lanes and social dis- way and data privacy is protected - we’re

ed the mandatory health declarations. tancing management to ensure travellers handling sensitive information, including

We’ve been supporting governments from different corridors, or risk levels, potentially data about people’s health, and
around the world in adapting their avoid coming into contact with each other. therefore we need to ensure all data shar-

Advance Passenger Processing pre-clear- Low risk passengers should be able to ing has a legitimate use and data is only
ance checks in response to COVID-19. travel through the airport and across retained for as long as necessary.
For example, during the early part of the the border in a seamless, low-touch way While travelling in 2020 and beyond will
pandemic we enabled governments to using biometrics and mobile technologies, be a different experience for all, there is

stop passengers from high risk countries without the need for excessive queuing at some hope the new environment can steer
check-in to their flights, limiting the immigration, which by itself can add to the us all towards a future featuring safe and

spread of the virus. risk. Travellers using restricted corridors seamless air travel. Q

World Airnews | August 2020
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