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BUSINESS NEWS


Heathrow last week started offering Hong Kong-bound passengers a rapid Covid-19 test before check-in


Airlines may have to wait for quick tests go-ahead


Carriers want rapid Covid tests, but they may not come soon. Ian Taylor reports


Rapid Covid tests for travellers appear the best way to reduce quarantine times and relax travel restrictions. But aviation leaders’ demands that


the government move to rapid testing risk falling on deaf ears unless tests on travellers are sufficiently accurate. The government’s Global Travel Taskforce was assessing the capacity of private testing providers this week ahead of making recommendations. Rapid point-of-care tests (POCTs)


would obviously be preferable to the RT-PCR tests used by the NHS which are considered ‘gold standard’ but require lab analysis which can take


72 29 OCTOBER 2020


24-48 hours and is therefore costly. Iata argues for a global system of


pre-departure antigen testing because tests for antigens – molecules which stimulate an immune response to the virus – are faster and cheaper. Airlines for Europe managing


director Thomas Reynaert told a Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) online meeting last week: “We need to come up with the scientific evidence that antigen tests are better than other tests [and] convince health authorities to get rid of quarantine.” A4E represents BA owner IAG, easyJet, Ryanair, Tui, Lufthansa,


Air France-KLM and other leading carriers. At the same time, an airline-


commissioned review of Public Health England (PHE) modelling, which informs government policy on quarantine, concluded the work is “flawed” and “significantly underestimates” the effectiveness of testing air passengers. It criticised government claims that


testing on arrival might pick up only 7% of passengers with asymptomatic Covid infections, instead arguing


Continued on page 70 travelweekly.co.uk


BUSINESSNEWS


PICTURE: LHR Airports Ltd


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