Airlines call for COVID-19 tests before all international flights

This picture taken on September 8, 2020 shows passengers waiting in line in front of a check-in counter of Asiana Airlines at Gimpo airport in Seoul. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

PARIS—Global airlines on Tuesday called for pre-departure COVID-19 testing for all international passengers to replace the quarantines they blame for exacerbating the travel slump.

Rapid and affordable antigen tests that can be administered by non-medical staff are expected to become available in “coming weeks” and should be rolled out under globally agreed standards, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said during an online media briefing.

“We don’t see any alternative solution that would be less challenging or more effective,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said.

Airlines hammered by the pandemic are pressing governments to embrace alternatives to blanket travel restrictions that are still hampering a traffic recovery – and now tightening again in Europe amid resurgent case numbers.

With rapid antigen tests becoming available for as little as $7 each, De Juniac said, airlines will push for their use to be endorsed by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the U.N. agency that oversees global aviation rules.

A global agreement is needed to ensure test results on departure are accepted on arrival, he added. “It will also boost passenger confidence that everybody on the aircraft has been tested.”

Antigen tests are faster but generally more likely to miss positive cases of the virus than laboratory-based molecular diagnostic tests.

Among companies marketing the new tests, German diagnostics specialist Qiagen said earlier this month it planned to launch a COVID-19 antigen test that provided results in 15 minutes and could be deployed in airports or stadiums.