Price of Covid test falls as airports battle slump

Government ministers have finally moved to cut the price of PCR travel tests amid strong criticism from airport bosses.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed a two-swab NHS Test and Trace package will be cut from £170 to £136.

But bosses at East Midlands Airport (EMA) previously called for the tests to be abolished completely as passenger numbers are still “significantly low”.

The UK’s traffic light system and travel restrictions mean the country’s aviation sector is recovering at just half the rate of the rest of Europe, says the airport.

Last week EMA bosses published passenger figures for July, which show that levels were down by 86.9 per cent, compared with July 2019, when the airport served 571,000 passengers. Just 74,604 passengers were seen in the same month this year.

EMA’s operations director Phillip Morris said: “We won’t see a proper sustained recovery until the UK overhauls its costly and restrictive travel regime, which is out of step with the rest of Europe.”

The government’s review of the traffic light system earlier this month saw more countries added to the green and amber lists.

But EMA said the number of passengers remained “significantly below pre-pandemic levels” despite a slight increase in volume.

With just three weeks of the peak summer season left, the airport is concerned that the need for travellers to pay for PCR is the reason for dwindling numbers.

Even when fully vaccinated and returning from low-risk destinations, EMA says it is “out of step” with the rest of Europe and holding back the recovery of UK airports and airlines.

Mr Morris said: “UK passengers continue to be subjected to onerous and expensive PCR testing on the basis they will be sequenced to protect the UK from variants of concern, but it is clear this is not happening.

“Passengers - especially those who are fully vaccinated - will be right to question why they are forced to pay the extra cost for tests which are not being used in the way we were told they would be.

“Meanwhile, the recovery of our sector – which supports millions of jobs and delivers billions of pounds in economic value – continues to lag significantly behind the rest of Europe as a result of excessive restrictions in place in the UK.”

Figures from Airports Council International - Europe show that Europe’s airports have recovered to about 59 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, compared with 28 per cent in the UK. EMA says the UK’s blanket requirement for PCR testing and pre-departure testing differs dramatically to the approach taken by most European countries, which allow fully vaccinated passengers to travel between low-risk destinations without having to take any tests.

The government has said PCR testing is needed to enable genomic sequencing to take place to identify variants of concern.

However, airport bosses say the latest official data shows only about 5 per cent are actually being sent for sequencing and brings into question the need for passengers to take these tests.

Mr Morris said: “We need a simple and sustainable system for travel, which people can understand and that is proportionate to the public health position here in the UK.”