One regional airline is now offering services to allow customers to book and pay for Covid-19 tests.
With the ongoing pandemic, airlines have been forced to find creative ways to ensure the safety of customers. International carriers like American Airlines offer preflight Covid-19 testing for passengers to territories with Covid-19 travel restrictions in place.
Now, Caribbean Airlines is offering their own service.
The new initiative which is in partnership with Ink Aviation will use a newly integrated Passenger Covid-19 Booking Portal and requires customers to book up to (7) seven days in advance but no less than (48) forty-eight hours prior to their flight departure date.
The platform integrates with medical establishments, airlines, airports and governments, to securely validate and share passenger health credentials, such as test results and vaccines.
Using the Passenger Covid-19 Test Booking portal caribbeanairlines.health.ink customers can input their booking reference code, and a list of approved testing labs along with available appointment dates and times will appear for selection.
The link will only display approved testing labs in the country from which the customer’s flight originates. Payment is required immediately after securing the appointment with the selected lab. The cost of the test will vary based on the country and lab facilitating the test.
Customers are advised to choose appointment dates that align with the specific entry protocols for the destination to which they are travelling. For example, some countries require that PCR tests be done within 72 hours of travel, while others accept PCR tests done within 7 days of travel.
Passengers may verify the specific entry requirements and other important travel information for their intended destination using the Caribbean Airlines Sherpa Tool at https://travelguidelines.caribbean-airlines.com/
Upon completion of their test appointment, customers will be invited to download the Ink Mobile App (Tento Wallet) via the Apple App or Google Play Store.
This app will act as a digital health passport, providing a touchless experience, where the labs can securely upload customer’s test results, which can be presented at the airport when checking-in. Caribbean Airlines will verify the results via the QR code from the Ink Mobile App downloaded on their smartphone.
Chief Operations Officer (COO) Steve Azevedo termed this service ‘as a major step for the airline to support countries to safely reopen their borders while preventing the importation of Covid-19 cases’.
Azevedo also shares some other details about the project’s legitimacy.
“The platform is compatible with all digital and paper Covid-19 test certificates including results from RT-PCR, LAMP and Antigen tests. The innovative solution allows passengers to verify their health credentials using several identification options and it works seamlessly with any departure control system (DCS), immigration systems and all self-sovereign digital health passports. In addition, an inbuilt declaration form digitises and unifies the travel details submitted by the passenger with advanced passenger information (APIS)”.