FILE PHOTO: British Airways aircraft are seen stationary on the tarmac of London's Heathrow Airport in west London, August 12, 2005. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
London Heathrow airport will offer rapid Covid-19 tests to departing passengers as more territories require travelers to provide a clean analysis as a condition for entry.
The Oxford LAMP rapid Covid-19 tests will cost 80 pounds ($104) and can be used for travel to destinations including Hong Kong and Italy that are conditioning entry on a negative Covid-19 result, according to a statement Tuesday from Collinson Group, which set up the facility at Heathrow. Results will be available in as little as 60 minutes. Other locations including Cyprus and the Bahamas mandate an RT-PCR test, which takes longer and isn’t offered at Heathrow.
Airlines and airport operators have been asking for travel restrictions to be eased and replaced with a testing regime that would open up more destinations and give passengers increased certainty about flying. Some countries are adopting this approach, although the specific measures vary.
The UK has set up a task force to consider using tests to halve its two-week quarantine period for incoming air passengers, although airlines have said even that is too long.
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.
Italy is expanding a virus-testing trial started at Rome’s Fiumicino airport in September. Airports in Paris and Nice will begin deploying rapid Covid-19 tests for passengers heading to the U.S., Italy and French overseas territories by the end of this month, French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said Tuesday in a radio interview.
U.K. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Monday that the U.K. was considering a test regime that could be in place by Dec. 1. It would allow travelers to take a test a week after arriving in the country to obtain an early end to the two-week quarantine. The government is also discussing setting up a trial program involving pre-isolation and testing with several countries, including the U.S., he said without giving a date.
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ new chief executive officer, said Monday that a seven-day quarantine won’t work. He said he’s heard little from the U.S. or U.K. on the proposed pilot program for virus testing on London-New York services.
"We aren’t getting any support or action and we’re not hearing from governments what they’re thinking,” he said at an Airlines 2050 webinar.
