Zamna COVID test deals promise passport to hassle-free post-pandemic travel

London-based health and identity verification specialist says relying on manual checks is ‘madness’

London-based aviation software specialist Zamna is working with three major health and test specialists to streamline data verification and COVID-19 results.

The firm has assigned deals with Unilabs Spain, Safecheck-in Portugal and Qured in the UK and US that will allow heath status and passports to be validated.

Zamna says due to ongoing COVID regulations the amount of data needed to be verified at airports is resulting in escalating costs and delays.

It adds: “For the traveller the experience is complex and time-consuming and, with ever-changing travel restrictions, there is much room for confusion, fraud, and increasing operational costs”.

Zamna technology forms secure connections between airlines and health providers, allowing carriers to securely verify passenger testing results without the passenger having to pre-upload or show additional documentation at the airport.

Passengers travelling with Zamna’s partner airlines can use these preferred health providers to avoid the use of PDFs, QR codes, printing documents or downloading other apps and sdo not have to show anything in the airport other than their passport.

Irra Ariella Khi, chief executive of Zamna, said: “There are two main challenges airlines are facing in the current travel verification process.

“Firstly, they are still manually checking documents with queues in some locations extending for many hours just for a single visual check of a passport and a health document.

“This is madness, given the technology that exists today and is stunting not only the ability for airlines to scale their operation to pre-COVID levels, but also the volume of travellers willing to return to air travel.

“Secondly, from our conversations with airlines, we know that 60% of the current data fraud happens in the form of falsified health data certifications, whether that’s vaccination status or test results provided by passengers.

“Airlines’ average margin per seat is £7, whilst the fine for processing false data can go up to £20K in some countries.

“That said, something has to change about the way airlines and health providers offer traveller experience and verify data.

“The industry has been hit hard and airlines simply can’t afford risking fines or waste resources on manual processes.”

Timoteo Guimaraes, head of the COVID-19 business unit at Unilabs Group, said: “In these difficult times, the smoother and more reliable the verification  process is, the better, and we’re happy to be working with Zamna to make this happen in Spain, with a view to possibly rolling it out in other countries, too.”

Alex Templeton, chief executive of Qured, added: “We are continuously investing in technology to create seamless journeys for our customers and to enable more people to travel easily and reconnect with their loved ones.

“Innovation in tech is vital to keeping travel moving and the technology behind Zamna will make it much less stressful for holidaymakers, travel test providers, and airlines to get people to their destination and back home, safely.

“We have worked closely with British Airways during the pandemic to make the travel experience less daunting for their customers, and Zamna will only help with this.”

Zamna’s mission is to remove headaches for all parties involved in the travel process by validating and passing data through the international travel ecosystem by cutting down on unnecessary paperwork.

Khi said: “We help move operations from manual and repeated to automated and persisted by anchoring all travel data to the only ICAO standard document recognised worldwide – the passport.

“Before the pandemic, all we needed was our passport. We don’t need to wait decades for new  ‘post COVID-19’ standards to harmonise across the international travel ecosystem.

“With Zamna, the passport alone opens the door to a level of data connectivity never seen or experienced before by passengers and companies in the travel ecosystem.”

Alexandre Marques, co-founder and chief executive at Safecheck-in, said: “The tourism sector is clearly one of those that has suffered the most worldwide with the pandemic.

“And, looking at Portugal, this sector is crucial for the entire economy. So, it is of utmost importance to simplify the processes for travelling, reduce bureaucracy but maintain rigor in the validation of documents and certificates.

“This technological advancement will reduce passenger anxiety, reduce local requirements, and reduce long queues while maintaining the rigor of the required validation, which gives everyone involved a much better experience.”