SYNLAB and IATA partner to make travel safe and easy

SYNLAB, Europe's leading medical diagnostic services provider, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have announced a partnership to facilitate safe and easy travel.

Both parties signed an agreement to incorporate SYNLAB's extensive lab network into the IATA Travel Pass. This will enable airline passengers to access SYNLAB's broad and secure Covid-19 testing services, benefiting from its international capabilities.

The IATA Travel Pass allows passengers to locate authorised laboratories at departure locations to get tested for SARS-CoV-2 as required by border and health authorities. After testing, SYNLAB will provide passengers with their certified test results through the IATA Travel Pass. The app checks the result against the IATA Travel Pass registry of national entry requirements to produce an 'OK to Travel' status. Passengers can share their status and the digital test certificates with authorities and airlines through the app to facilitate travel.

The IATA Travel Pass applies the highest data security standards. Authorised laboratories directly send Covid-19 test results to the passenger's phone as a verifiable credential. This also prevents the potential forgery of test results.

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SYNLAB chief executive Mathieu Floreani said: "We are pleased to partner with IATA to make travelling as safe as possible. At a time when people around the world are resuming air travel and different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are spreading, testing remains crucial. Testing is a central pillar in monitoring and controlling the pandemic to prevent the spread of the virus. As the market leader in Europe for PCR testing, we have conducted 18 million PCR tests since the outbreak of the pandemic, underlining our strong expertise in this incredibly relevant field."

IATA director general Willie Walsh added: "Verified Covid-19 testing is critical to restore the freedom to travel for people who are not vaccinated. The IATA Travel Pass aims to make it as simple as possible for travellers to locate certified labs and securely receive the test results that governments require for entry. Adding SYNLAB's extensive lab network will help travellers more easily ensure that they meet Covid-19 travel requirements."

SYNLAB has more than 450 medical laboratories and over 1,600 sample collection points across 36 countries.

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