Goodbye passport, an app at the airport and hotel will suffice. Here's how it works

The revolution starts from Aruba, small Caribbean island part of the Netherlands, and promises to archive the use of passports once and for all. It involves the testing of an app for the management and digital recognition of documents which is being tested these very days.

The app is called "Aruba Happy One Pass" and is part of a pilot program run by two leading aviation technology companies (Sita and Indicio) in collaboration with Aruba Tourism Authority.

News that will create a heart dive for all travel document romantics with the stamps to collect and cherish. For new generations of travelers, however, it is another step Toward the total digitization of travel and the complete elimination of any paper media useful for moving from one country to another.

How the app works

Travelers flying starting Monday, March 27, from the United States, Canada or the Netherlands to Aruba will be advised to download the "Aruba Happy One Pass" to create a digital travel credential (DTC) based on their passport data.

In this way, the mobile app will, even before air travel, determine the compliance of the information and share it-securely via blockchain - with government and customs authorities on the Caribbean island.

These first passengers arriving at the Queen Beatrix International Airport of Aruba therefore no longer have to show any travel documents or fill out any kind of form or form upon arrival in the country. Nor do they have to go through any border control.

The program is an extension of the work that companies Sita and Indicio developed early in the pandemic to create a blockchain-based app to verify Covid credentials.

A digital model for hotels and airlines as well

La DTC (Digital Travel Credential) is in fact compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) standards and uses blockchain technology that ensures authenticity and integrity to the information sharing process.

In fact, travelers can control whether and with whom they share their data.

One of the goals of the app, in fact, is to replace the passport in one fell swoop for all activities during the stay. The traveler, in fact, can decide to share the information on Aruba Happy One Pass with the airline, the hotel where he will stay, the car rental company.

None of these companies, however, will need to maintain a database with inflations on travelers because it will all be centralized in the app itself.

"The goal of our pilot program is to allow passengers to travel without ever taking anything out of their pockets," says Gus Pina, director of Sita Lab - The app digitally verifies that a person is authorized to cross a border between two states, and then with the app we enable border control before the journey even begins."

In simple terms this means, according to Pina, "Make a certain number of people jump the checkpoint lines". Initially, passengers will be able-with a single "tap" on their smartphone-to present themselves to an e-gate upon arrival, which will automatically read their digital credentials, extract biometric data and compare it with their face and approve entry into the country.

The evolution of the Travel Pass?

In the long run, however, the app will allow travelers to exiting the airport in a direct manner, with no e-gate and no verification. Travel credentials will also be able to be stored in an Apple or Google wallet alone, without the need for a dedicated app.

Aruba's app resembles the Iata's Travel Pass Launched during the early months of the pandemic, but then quickly shelved Because few countries and airlines had joined to the project that involved merging biometric data and identity documents, all of which are digital, into one app.

While at first, in fact, Aruba's app may be successful; at a second stage it will be necessary to provide for uniform application that would see as many states and travel companies joining as possible. It is unthinkable, for example, to have to download a single app for every country in the World where you plan to travel "passport-free."