TOKYO: All Nippon Airways conducted Monday a trial of an app that enables travelers to present their COVID-19 negative certificates with a smartphone, as part of its efforts to simplify procedures at airports.

The use of the app would make it unnecessary for travelers to present paper documents as proof that they have tested negative for the new coronavirus. The app also shows whether travelers meet quarantine requirements at their respective destinations.

The airline, a subsidiary of ANA Holdings Inc., aims to put the app into practical use ahead of a recovery in demand for international flights, which has been hit by the new coronavirus pandemic.

Japan Airlines <9201> plans to conduct a similar test on Friday.

The two Japanese airlines have been working with the Commons Project Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit organization, which developed the app called CommonPass, for the trials.

ANA became the first Japanese airline to test the app, which has been given trials by overseas airlines in four countries and regions outside Japan.

The developer aims to allow the app to display records of coronavirus vaccinations in the future.

At Tokyo International Airport at Haneda on Monday, two travelers showed their passport information and coronavirus negative status using the app to check in for an ANA flight bound for New York.

“It was great that I was able to go through check-in procedures smoothly using the app,” said Ikuko Osato, a 44-year-old nurse from Nihonmatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, one of the two passengers who participated in the test run.

JIJI Press