Heathrow offers pre- departure tests
RESULTS, AVAILABLE WITHIN AN HOUR, COULD BE USED FOR TRAVEL TO HONG KONG AND ITALY
Heathrow airport will offer rapid Covid- 19 tests to departing passengers as more territories require travellers to provide virus assessments as a condition of entry.
The Oxford LAMP tests will cost 80 pounds ($ 104) and can be used for travel to destinations including Hong Kong and Italy that are requiring a negative Covid- 19 result, according to a statement from Collinson Group, which set up the facility at Heathrow. Results will be available in as little as 60 minutes.
Uniform testing regime
The airline industry has been asking for a uniform testing regime to replace a variety of international restrictions on travel. The tests at Heathrow will accommodate destinations that are adopting pre- flight rapid testing, though the UK itself still quarantines most arriving travelers. Specific plans being introduced vary, with Cyprus and the Bahamas, for example, mandating a RT- PCR test, which takes longer and isn’t offered at Heathrow.
The London hub and IAG SA- owned British Airways are pushing for the government to replace the two- week quarantine with a pre- flight testing approach. The UK has resisted this idea, with transport secretary Grant Shapps reiterating that border testing won’t catch all Covid- 19 cases.
Shares of European airlines, hotels and airport operators rose on the Heathrow trial and a separate announcement that airports in France are gearing up to offer fast coronavirus testing.
International restart
A combination of rapid testing, vaccines and digital health passports such as the World Economic Forum- backed CommonPass app could help restart international travel, according to Sandy Morris, an analyst at Jefferies. “Over time, national border restrictions and quarantine rules could be eased or abandoned,” Morris wrote in a research note yesterday.
The UK has set up a task force to consider using tests that would halve the mandatory self- isolation period, though some airlines have said even that won’t be enough to bring back international flights.
Lack of coordination
Airlines have complained about a lack of coordination that’s contributed to a steep slump in international travel.
For network airlines like IAG, the trans- Atlantic trade to the US. is key to returning to profitability.
The CommonPass app is also gaining traction, with a trial of the test- tracking system getting under way Wednesday on a flight from Heath row to Newark, N. J., according to the Commons Project.
Singapore and Hong Kong agreed last week to open their borders to one another for the first time in almost seven months, with testing mandatory for travelers. Details of the program, which is expected to start within weeks, haven’t yet been publicly laid out.
Over time, national border restrictions and quarantine rules could be eased or abandoned.”
Sandy Morris | Analyst at Jefferies
Testing trials in France, Italy
Italy is expanding a virus testing trial started at Rome’s Fiumicino airport in September. Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and the French Riviera hub in Nice will begin deploying rapid Covid- 19 tests for passengers heading to the US Italy and French overseas territories by the end of this month, French Transport Minister Jean- Baptiste Djebbari said yesterday in a local radio interview.