NEWS Karen Dee


Covid testing regime at airports could be in place by December


Ian Taylor


A Covid-test regime for travel should be in place from the end of the current lockdown in England on December 2, say industry leaders. But even a later start date could still see a regime in place for Christmas. Transport secretary


Grant Shapps said the government’s travel taskforce “will report very soon” on a ‘test and release’ scheme for travellers when he addressed the Airport Operators Association (AOA) on Monday. Shapps promised the scheme would be rolled out “once we emerge from lockdown”. However, an industry source said:


Shapps told the AOA a “single test


for arrivals, at cost to the passenger” would allow a “much-reduced” period of quarantine but did not say how much. There are hopes the government


STORY TOP


will reduce quarantine to five days with a negative test on the fifth day, given reports it is considering cutting the maximum self- isolation requirement to 10 days. The source said:


“If they’re going to reduce quarantine across the board, five days would be logical. The


private sector can move at pace. It’s feasible [to have testing in place] for Christmas.” AOA chief executive Karen Dee


“The taskforce has still to report. We’re where we were a week ago. The government said it would report in early November, but it could be next week. It could be a fortnight.”


travelweekly.co.uk


acknowledged: “The transport secretary talked about a ‘much- reduced’ quarantine. He has not committed the government.” But she told Travel Weekly: “He has said he wants a regime set up by December.


The private sector


can move at pace. It’s feasible [to have testing in place] for Christmas


Whether it’s achievable, I don’t know. It depends how quickly the machinery of government works. “We don’t want to come out of


a national lockdown and still have quarantine in place. We hope it will be a maximum of five days. The key will be what type of test they approve.” Dee said: “Once we know the


type of test, some airports may choose to set up testing as an obvious place for people to come to. It’s in airports’ interests to ensure tests are available somewhere convenient. A lot of airports are already engaged in testing and pilots. “We’ll press the government not


to rely on one test, but to provide a pathway for testing that is fast and convenient.” Dee agreed a December 2 start


date “sounds challenging” but said: “We’ll create as much pressure as we can for that.” Gatwick Airport chief executive


Stewart Wingate said: “The number- one priority is that this latest lockdown isn’t wasted. We need to ensure test and release at the earliest opportunity.” London City Airport chief


executive Robert Sinclair agreed: “It’s important to achieve this by December 2 given the Christmas booking period.” However, CAA safety director


Rob Bishton warned: “Testing isn’t a silver bullet. It’s incremental. At best, we may see a stop-start scenario.” Germany, Sweden and Denmark


became the latest countries to be removed from the travel corridors list at the weekend.


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PICTURE: Shutterstock


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