Singapore Airlines (SIA) has started trials on a new digital health verification app that will allow it to validate a passenger’s COVID-19 test results and vaccination information, in a move aimed at facilitating the return of air travel.

The aviation and tourism industries have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, amid lockdowns and border restrictions around the world.

According to SIA the new digital health verification process will provide a “faster and more secure way” to validate a passenger’s health credentials than the existing protocols, and help demonstrate that people can return to travel with confidence.

Under the trial, which started on Wednesday, travellers on SIA flights from Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur who take their COVID-19 tests at selected clinics in the two cities will be given either a digital certificate or paper health certificates with a QR code.

Airport check-in staff and Singapore’s immigration authority will then scan the code into an app to verify the authenticity of those certificates, and ensure that the customers meet entry requirements.

Customers without a digital certificate can also present the paper version for manual verification.