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Qatar Airways is proud to become the first airline in the Middle East to begin trials of the innovative new IATA Travel Pass 'Digital Passport' mobile app, in partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Qatar Ministry of Public Health, Primary Health Care Corporation and Hamad Medical Corporation, starting 11 March 2021.

Doha to Istanbul

Passengers on the award-winning airline's Doha to Istanbul route will become the first group to experience the 'Digital Passport' app which aims to play an important role in the airline's vision to have a more contactless, secure and seamless travel experience for its passengers.

IATA Travel Pass ensures passengers receive up-to-date information on COVID-19 health regulations at their destination country, as well as complying with strict global data privacy regulations to enable the sharing of COVID-19 test results with airlines to verify they are eligible to undertake their journey.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: "As the world's leading airline for safety, innovation and customer experience, we are the industry's firmest advocate for introducing digital solutions to help passengers safely and seamlessly navigate complex and ever-changing entry restrictions across the globe. "We have confidence in the credibility of the IATA Travel Pass as the industry's most reliable and innovative solution given its strong data privacy compliance, long-standing entry rules engine, and ability to provide an end-to-end solution.

We are proud to be at the forefront of trialing this platform, being one of the first globally and the first airline in the Middle East to trial the technology. "With the strictest data privacy regulations, IATA Travel Pass is a huge step towards proving that ICAO's global standards for digital passports do work. It will also assist in laying the foundation for governments across the world to come together in the development of standardized regulations to reduce the current patchwork of red tape across the international travel industry. In partnership with the World Health Organisation, IATA is also engaged in helping to define a standardized vaccine certificate that will be necessary for the opening of borders and scalable increase of global travel."

IATA Director General and CEO, Mr. Alexandre de Juniac, said: "Qatar Airways' full deployment of IATA Travel Pass is a significant milestone in restarting global connectivity. Governments are requiring testing or vaccination certifications to enable travel and the IATA travel app helps travellers to securely and conveniently manage and provide their credentials.

All passengers using IATA Travel Pass can be confident that their data is protected and governments can trust that the "OK to travel" means both a genuine credential and a verified identity," Qatar Airways has become the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by the international air transport rating organization, Skytrax.

This follows HIA's recent success as the first and only airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating. These recognitions provide assurance to passengers across the world that airline health and safety standards are subject to the highest possible standards of professional, independent scrutiny and assessment. For full details of all the measures that have been implemented onboard and in HIA, please visit qatarairways.com/safety.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar continues to rebuild its network, which currently stands at over 130 destinations. With more frequencies being added to key hubs, Qatar Airways offers unrivaled connectivity to passengers, making it easy for them to travel when they need to. Passengers can book flights with peace of mind, knowing that Qatar Airways offers unlimited date changes and fee-free refunds for all tickets issued before 30 April 2021, for travel completed by 31 December 2021. The carrier's industry-leading flexible booking policy also provides the permanent feature of exchanging tickets for a travel voucher with 10% additional value for all customers booking travel via qatarairways.com. For full terms and conditions visit qatarairways.com/Flexibility. A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was named 'World's Best Airline' by the 2019 World Airline Awards, managed by the international air transport rating organisation Skytrax. It was also named 'Best Airline in the Middle East', 'World's Best Business Class', and 'Best Business Class Seat', in recognition of its ground-breaking Business Class experience, Qsuite. Qsuite is available on flights to more than 45 destinations including Johannesburg, London, New York, and Singapore. Qatar Airways is the only airline to have been awarded the coveted 'Skytrax Airline of the Year' title, which is recognized as the pinnacle of excellence in the airline industry, five times. In addition to this, Qatar Airways home and hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA) was ranked the 'Best Airport in the Middle East' and 'Third Best Airport in the World' by the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards 2020.