SITA Launches Health Protect

(31 Oct 2021) SITA has launched Health Protect – an industry solution designed to help airlines, airports, governments, and passengers safely and securely share information on health tests or vaccinations needed during travel.

Successful trials have already been undertaken with travelers to the United Arab Emirates, and will soon start at Milan Malpensa Airport.

The ability for passengers to share vital health information such as PCR test results or vaccination history with authorities is increasingly important. SITA’s Health Protect allows airlines and passengers to submit these required documents safely and securely in line with specific government requirements.

By incorporating Advance Passenger Processing (APP), Health Protect enables authorities to make an informed decision whether a passenger can travel at the point of check-in, improving the safety of all passengers and avoiding costly return flights.

Passengers without the required documentation, or considered high risk, will be unable to check-in for their flight. By facilitating the inclusion of health pass schemes into existing, proven, and trusted passenger processing systems, Health Protect minimizes the operational and technical impact on carriers and ports.

Combining the functionality of passenger locator forms, health attestations, and travel declarations, as well as Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), Health Protect helps to deliver confidence and provides passenger certainty that they have the right documents before departure, vitally at a time when borders regulations change regularly.

At the airport, Health Protect also integrates with existing airport passenger processing systems to verify the health status of the passenger at each point in the process using SITA Flex touchless passenger flow monitoring technology.

David Lavorel, CEO of Airports and Borders at SITA, said, “We’re excited for the potential of SITA Health Protect to bridge the gap between airlines resuming normal operations and governments' strong focus on keeping control of COVID19. Recovery from COVID19 will take time and is complex but we believe that SITA can play a key role in enabling a safer, simpler travel experience for passengers.”

Live Trials

This week for the first time, a small group of air travelers flying from Germany and Estonia to the United Arab Emirates tested the health data platform and app SimplyGo in a live environment.

During the trial, travelers obtained a negative COVID19 result via their SimplyGo app before traveling. The data was then securely stored on the SimplyGo platform to be accessed by airlines and border officials authorizing boarding of the plane and eventually arrival at the destination country, the United Arab Emirates. Integration with the UAE government systems was made possible through the Advance Passenger Processing platform delivered by SITA.

Integrating SimplyGo with APP forms part of SITA’s Health Protect ecosystem, simplifying and automating the inclusion of health data into existing airline, airport, and government processes. By adapting APP to meet the current health demands of COVID19, passengers can be processed faster and experience a more enjoyable journey while the airport benefits from improved efficiency and security.

Similarly, SEA Milan Airports, Italy’s second busiest airport, is collaborating with SITA to pilot an innovative platform that digitalizes declarations on COVID-9 tested flights and manages the testing process at Milan Malpensa (MXP) airport.

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