Oyu Tolgoi-Rio Tinto and Mongolian Airlines Partner with AOKpass, International SOS, and SOS Medica Mongolia to provide safe Return to Work and Travel.
On 28 July 2021, Mongolian Airlines (MIAT) operated the first ever charter flight (OM7602) on which all passengers and air crew members used a digital health pass to verify their COVID-19 negative status. The flight, chartered by Rio Tinto, carried employees destined for Oyu Tolgoi site, one of the largest known copper and gold deposits in the world. AOKpass, integrated into International SOS’ safe return to work solution, Work Pass, was used to authenticate the employees’ COVID-19 negative PCR results on departure from Johannesburg Airport (JNB), in South Africa, and arrival at Ulaanbaatar Airport (ULN), in Mongolia.
Altannaran Gankhuu, Head of Foreign Relations & Cooperation Department MIAT Mongolian Airlines commented,
“We are delighted to work with our partners to provide safe passage for the Oyu Tolgoi employees in this groundbreaking flight.”
Phil Abraham, GM HSE, Oyu Tolgoi LLC - Rio Tinto said,
“Oyu Tolgoi is one of the most modern, safe and sustainable operations in the world and it is critically important to us to ensure our employees are kept safe and well. Working in partnership with Mongolian Airlines, AOKPass and International SOS will protect our employees as well as providing a smooth journey.
All the employees took a PCR test 24 hours before the flight, which followed a previous test nine days prior to the flight. They also underwent an International SOS ‘Fit for Travel Assessment’, via survey forms through the Work Pass app. The International SOS Work Pass full integration with AOKpass provided the employees with a unique AOKpass QR code linking to their digital health certificate. This was presented at the arrival gate, where inspection personnel scanned the QR code to verify that the passenger has the valid required certificates for the flight and entry to country, including COVID-19 negative status.
Darren Toh, CEO at AOKPass,
“This is a great step in the evolution of getting back to travel and back to work safely in a sustainable way. It is another milestone in the operational advancement of AOKpass. Being able to provide organisations and their employees with an easy and secure end-to-end process is going to be a key element in getting the global workforce and economy back to business,”
Michael Gardner, CEO Medical Services, International SOS added,
“The integration of Work Pass* and AOKpass provides organisations and their employees with a safe and secure way to demonstrate adherence to health requirements of a work or travel environment via a single app. This is an exciting first of its kind pilot and we hope that many more organisations consider this to protect their employees and, ultimately, their business continuity.”
About AOKpass
AOKpass is the blockchain based digital health certification co-founded by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and global industry leaders in health and certification services, International SOS and SGS Group. It is the world’s most operationally advanced secure health certificate platform and app. Deployments of AOKpass have already involved over 600 flights, reflecting its strong focus on forming local, regional and global alliances for interoperability across jurisdictions and industries. It also has an extensive international network of over 80,000 accredited clinics and health providers already in place, AOKpass aims to be the globally trusted digital infrastructure for international health records verification. AOKpass collects no medical information from its users and applies medical, government and industry standards to ensure seamless travel through multiple jurisdictions.
About MIAT Mongolian Airlines
MIAT Mongolian Airlines is a state-owned national flag-carrier of Mongolia, operating scheduled international flights and a charter domestic service out of the capital city Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. At early stage of its history, MIAT was founded as Mongolian Civil Air Transportation Corporation under direct administration of then General Authority of Civil Aviation Administration. First international flight commenced to Irkutsk USSR in 1956 marks the establishment of Mongolian Civil aviation. Hence, MIAT Mongolian Airlines is the pioneer of Mongolian commercial airline industry.
MIAT was officially incorporated as an independent state-owned enterprise in 1993. Place of domicile is Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The core business activities comprise of passenger and cargo air transportation, engineering and maintenance services, air charter and ground handling services. As a full-service airline, MIAT operates a fleet of four (4) Boeing 737 and two (2) Boeing 767 model aircraft providing scheduled international service to eight (8) Asian destinations to cities of China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand as well as three (3) European destinations, namely, Moscow, Berlin and Frankfurt. Additionally, MIAT provides domestic charter service to Oyu Tolgoi, in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, which is one of the largest known copper and gold deposits in the world.
As a global outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, international flights have been suspended over a year. During this pandemic situation, we, MIAT Mongolian Airlines we have been operating many intercontinental charter flights to many countries as Johannesburg of South Africa, Istanbul of Turkey, Sydney, Pert and Brisbane of Australia, Seattle of United states of America, Prague of Czech Republic, Budapest of Hungary, London of UK, and Deli of India.