LONDON: Airlines fight a scourge of passengers traveling with forged Covid-19 health certificates.
The documents are usually the results of the Covid-19 test that many countries require upon arrival. The industry body of the International Air Transport Association says it has tracked down fake certificates in several countries, from France to Brazil, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Border control authorities and police forces have also reported arrests of people selling documents in the UK, Spain, Indonesia and Zimbabwe, among others.
The problem is hitting more international flights than domestic ones, which normally do not need certification at this time. Airlines that are more dependent on cross-border travel, especially those operating in Europe, are growing increasingly alarmed when it comes to watching the summer, when they are still waiting for demand to start returning.
The proliferation of fake medical certificates reveals a logistical blind spot, as airlines rush to navigate post-pandemic travel standards and reorganize their systems to facilitate compliance and stimulate demand. Airlines say their staff is not equipped to manage and control all the new health certifications needed and worries that the problem will worsen when some countries also start applying for vaccination certificates.
At Brussels Airlines, staff have shared fake certificates they encountered (including one from an incident last week) to be aware of the techniques used by scammers.