Airports and airlines warn against queues and crowding due to new travel certificate norms

Groups representing Airports and airlines in Europe have warned of long queues and confusion at airports unless the roll-out of the EU’s digital COVID-19 certificate is well-coordinated among countries and passengers are processed well before arrival.

The groups also stated that the national governments should take up the responsibility of managing health data and providing the necessary equipment for scanning the QR-codes. They also suggested that checks must only take place once in the country of departure and not on arrival.

The EU’s system of COVID-19 travel certificates would necessitate extra checks and the right equipment to read the codes. It is expected to be enforced from Thursday.

The travel certificates will use QR-codes to show if passengers are vaccinated fully, have immunity against COVID-19 due to recent recovery, or have had a negative test result.