EFE.- United Airlines announced this Thursday that it is going to begin offering free rapid coronavirus tests to passengers on some flights between the airports of Newark, near New York, and Heathrow, in London, within a pilot program to reduce quarantine periods in destination.
In a statement, the airline points out that anyone who does not want to take the test will be relocated to another flight to “ensure that everyone on board, except those under two years (who will not be subjected to the test), have tested negative before take off ”.
“We believe that the ability to offer rapid same-day testing for covid-19 will play a vital role in a safe reopening around the world,” said Director of Customer Service Toby Enqyist.
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United assures that it will share the comments of the travelers with the governments of both countries to try to demonstrate the effectiveness of this program “as an alternative to mandatory quarantines or duplication of travel restrictions.”
The airline maintains that it has registered a positive impact on the demand for flights, as well as a significant impact on the number of customers and on ticket sales when the option to perform the test has been given.
The analyzes, which will be carried out by the Premise Health company, will be carried out on the flight that departs from Newark, located in the state of New Jersey but which, due to its proximity to New York, also serves the Big Apple, on Mondays, Wednesday and Friday at 7.15pm local time.
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The tests will be requested in advance up to three hours before the flight and will take place in an airport lounge.
On October 15, United established a similar system on the domestic flight between San Francisco and Hawaii, but in this case, charging for testing.
The program allows travelers who have tested negative to bypass the quarantines imposed by the authorities of the destination cities.
According to United, between October 15 and 25, flights of this type between San Francisco and Hawaii have seen a 95% increase in passengers compared to the previous two weeks.
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Other US airlines have said they are considering starting to provide similar tests, while the European commercial aviation sector is increasingly demanding that preventive quarantines of travelers be replaced by COVID-19 tests.
Commercial aviation is in a critical situation due to the restrictions imposed to stop the expansion of the coronavirus and aggravated by the uncertainty of travelers, who when buying a ticket do not know if they will finally be able to fly to their destination or if the rules on quarantines will change. One day to another.
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