France is looking to restart internal travel as it will soon start trialling the digital health certificates that will lead to “a return to normal of flights in the next weeks and months". This was announced by French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari on Tuesday. 

The vaccine passports will be generated by the Covid-19 tracing app, which has been available for over a year. Djebbari, speaking at the capital's Orly airport noted that France is the first European Union country to have a system working to resume travel. The EU is expected to have the "digital green certificates" programme running by mid-June. AOKpass, CommonPass and International Air Transport Association Travel Pass are apps that are also being trialled, but the French app already has around 15 million users. 

Moreover, the French Transport Minister pointed out that Air France-KLM flights to overseas territories will also be tested out in the coming weeks and may be extended to include some neighbouring countries. Djebbari mentioned that he’s also in discussions with the U.S. and Britain. 

The system will have the “TousAntiCovid" contact-tracing app receiving results and vaccine records from France's centralised healthcare system, easing travel from one place to another. To date, the French government is discussing this method to resume events like concerts, conferences and festivals. However, it will not be used to ease dining and shopping. In the coming week, France is set to ease its lockdown, which had been imposed for almost a month.