Daily Management Review

Airlines ask EU and US to introduce common COVID-19 testing programs


07/23/2020


Several airlines have asked the European Union and the United States to introduce unified testing programs for the coronavirus infection COVID-19.



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Such measures would help restore flights between continents, according to a letter addressed to US Vice President Mike Pence and EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson, Deutsche Welle reports.

"We admit that testing entails a number of challenges," reads a letter signed by heads of airlines such as Deutsche Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, and the International Airlines Group.

According to Lufthansa spokesman, the example of the airport in Frankfurt am Main shows how such a check can function. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing has been carried out there as an experiment for about a month.

There is a laboratory on the territory of the airport; the process of taking the test lasts three to four minutes. A simple test costs €59 and the results are ready in 6-8 hours. The express analysis will cost €139, but it will be ready in three hours. The results are sent to the tested passenger via the mobile application.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a drop in the number of transatlantic flights. On July 16, the Council of the European Union announced that free entry into the EU would be open to residents of 12 states: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. Entry from the United States to Europe is still banned.

source: dw.de