The Airports Council International (ACI) World welcomed last week the publication of the Good Health Pass Collaborative Interoperability Blueprint.
The Good Health blueprint proposes a new set of specifications for airlines and governments that will allow them to verify travelers’ COVID-19 status, from proof of vaccination to testing to recovery, while ensuring the protection of core principles like privacy, security, user control, and equity.
“As we continue to navigate recovery, cooperation on global standards towards a global harmonization of processes and the use of vaccines and tests together will help get the industry back on track. Collaboration is the best approach as aviation is a global business, and we need to have a global perspective,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “We will continue to work to further initiatives like the Good Health Pass Collaborative, which is a key development in the proliferation of digital health passes which will promote the safe and swift reopening of borders. As the blueprint sets out, success will be reliant on global interoperability and a safe, reliable system that protects the data of users and has benefits beyond the aviation industry.”
The blueprint was developed using an open and inclusive process, incorporating the expertise of more than 120 volunteers from the health, travel, and technology sectors. The blueprint addresses nine technical and interoperability challenges around which global consensus must be reached: design principles, consistent user experience, standard data models, consistent credential formats and exchange protocols, security privacy and data protection, trust registries, rules engines, identity binding, and governance.
“For a system of interoperable digital health passes to have the best chance of success, governments need to recognise the health status documentation which is already in circulation, such as more than a billion vaccine certificates, proofs of recovery, and evidence of test results,” de Oliveira said. “The stakes are high. If governments can get behind initiatives like the Good Health Pass Collaborative, they have the potential to provide a significant boost to the industry, protecting millions of jobs, rebuilding critical global connectivity, and helping aviation drive a global economic recovery.”