Air France, one of the largest airlines in the World, has announced its efforts to adopt blockchain as a solution to the adverse effects coronavirus has had on air travel.
According to a press release by the airline, they have systems already in place for the new blockchain-based covid-19 health passport implementation.
The trial test has been highly anticipated and is scheduled to run for four weeks as of March 11th. Air France has partnered with the system’s developers (International SOS and MedAire), SGS, and the International Chamber of Commerce to implement the trial.
How Will the Health Passport Work?
The ICC AOKpass is a mobile application that will pass as verification of covid test clearance in the airline. Travelers on the Paris CDG-Pointe-à-Pitre and Paris CDG-Fort-de-France route will present the app as opposed to the usual paper test certificate as confirmation of their negative covid status.
The ICC AOKpass will be able to authenticate any claimed negative test results by collaborations with the various approved testing labs. The move to digitize the negative results remains optional, and only volunteers will participate.
The results from the pilot will, later on, be shared with other partnering institutions before a more stern regulation is decided upon.
Did we Really Need the Blockchain-Based Solution?
Air France is a big adopter of blockchain technologies, with several of its operations run by decentralized ledger technology. When Covid-19 hit hard, it brought a lot of challenges to the airline business. Stakeholders and Investors started paying more attention to blockchain solutions, especially towards digitizing travel protocols and designing contactless authentication systems.
With ICC AOKpass, a negative test’s validity will have to be generated and verified by the app through blockchain technology. This will help reduce delays during boarding as well as reducing the chances of loss or spoilage of paper documents.
