Cathay Pacific has successfully conducted two live flight trials involving volunteer passengers using the CommonPass app, which enables users to securely prove their COVID-19 health status.

The app was developed by The Commons Project, a non-profit organisation supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, which builds digital platforms and services.

Cathay Pacific is the first airline to complete a trial with CommonPass involving both testing and vaccination records on an end-to-end, round-trip journey. It is also the first airline in the Asia Pacific to trial the use of official vaccination records with customers in a live flight environment. 

The volunteer customers used their personal vaccination and/or pre-departure COVID-19 PCR test records to create digital health passes using the CommonPass app. Customers on Cathay Pacific flight CX691 from Hong Kong to Singapore on July 6, used the Hong Kong SAR Government’s vaccine code – generated using the iAM Smart app.

Passengers on flight CX690 from Singapore to Hong Kong on July 15, used Singapore’s HealthCerts PCR test result.

The platform interpreted and validated these records against the travel rules for the customers’ itineraries and produced a digital health pass that showed their eligibility to travel.

Initial customer feedback during the trials indicated that CommonPass was easy to install and simple to use, with the vast majority saying they would be willing to use digital health passes in future.

“We believe the use of digital health passes can significantly alleviate travel uncertainties, while providing greater reassurance and confidence to our customers,” said GM of Customer Experience and Design at Cathay Pacific, Vivian Lo. “These trials will pave the way for the reopening of our international flight routes, while the collaboration with our trial partners has enabled us to demonstrate to our industry peers and the border authorities the functionality of digital health passes using testing and vaccination records authorised by the authorities.”