The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for a universal health code for air travel, with the World Health Organization (WHO) standard used to prepare for future health emergencies.
"Digital health credentials was clearly a Covid-19 success story and we need to build on that platform for the future," said James Wiltshire, assistant director of external affairs at IATA, at the organisation's Global Media Days 2022 event last week.
Mr Wiltshire said a universal digital health certificate was needed, similar to the WHO's "yellow card" for international vaccination certification against yellow fever and other diseases in certain countries.
In addition to a digital version, a paper form embedded with QR codes should be available, he said.
If this goal is not achievable, there should be a mutual recognition of existing standards as aviation is an international business, said Mr Wiltshire.
During the pandemic, passengers and airlines managed travel despite a patchwork of different health standards for different countries, making aviation hard to navigate at times.
Given IATA's concerns about the possibility of an EU digital Covid-19 certificate being dropped next year, he said the system should be mothballed, not dismantled.
The organisation previously proposed a playbook for pandemic preparation based on the SARS disease.
Mr Wiltshire said infectious diseases frequently have outbreaks at the regional level, such as SARS, MERS and Ebola.
"We don't know when the next public health emergency will be, but we know there will be one," he said.
"We don't want to start over when the next crisis hits."
However, Mr Wiltshire said demonstrating health status should only be required when needed for health reasons, not as a norm, as sensitive information might need to remain secure.
Other lessons learned from Covid-19 that should be applied to possible future pandemics include implementing science-based risk measures to prepare health emergency frameworks, as well as prioritising air crews as essential workers to move the industry forward, he said.
In terms of communication, Mr Wiltshire said governments should directly communicate with customers and industry during health emergencies, while the International Civil Aviation Organization and WHO should play a major role in providing data for health measures.
He said one positive from the pandemic was governments recognised how travel restrictions affected the wider economy and society in terms of mental health, jobs, and business losses.
