How Testing Can Get The World Flying Again

Yesterday Alitalia began running a set of special COVID-free flights between Rome and Milan. They may offer a blueprint for the wider world to follow. For a period of one month, two daily flights on the route will carry only passengers who have tested negative for COVID-19. Passengers can either present a negative test result from within the past 72 hours, or take a free rapid antigen test (results within 30 minutes) before flying at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. That test just before departure is a critical offering: it is fast and free, and ensures passengers have been tested right at the moment of departure, minimizing risk.

It’s been more or less established by now that flying in the time of COVID-19 is relatively safe. Very few instances of people being infected on airplanes have been reported. Airlines have taken extensive measures to keep cabins disinfected and ensure passengers keep a distance and wear face coverings. All of this has helped reassure many passengers about taking to the skies again.

The problem is that it’s still possible for infected passengers to fly and take the virus with them. With that in mind most international travel is still out of the question, either because of extended quarantine requirements, border closures, or perhaps most importantly the ongoing uncertainty surrounding whether you can get into a country and then get back out again, or go away and then come back. With rules and restrictions constantly in flux, and warnings at every turn about a coming second wave of the virus, it’s a minefield – and most people are unsurprisingly deciding to stay home. As a result business is not getting done, friends and family are being kept apart – and airlines are being brought to their knees.

Airline marketing strategy firm Simpliflying has been advocating for a robust set of measures based around testing passengers in order to get people flying again. Not only would an effective testing regimen give passengers confidence, it could allow governments to reduce or even remove quarantine measures, closed borders and other restrictions that are currently keeping most would-be travelers home. The reality is that with the right level of buy-in from the aviation industry and governments, we could get people moving – most likely without causing new spikes in infections.

Simpliflying’s “Testing+” proposal is one of the most comprehensive approaches we’ve seen proposed so far. They say the airline industry should adopt a standardized approach that ideally includes all of the following:

– Pre-travel authorizations and screening. Border control can use electronic authorizations submitted by passengers to identify riskier arrivals and screen them appropriately.

– Testing on departure every time. Testing passengers before departure means added reassurance for those on the plane that they are not flying with infected people, and reduces the risk of a positive test on arrival wreaking havoc on travel schedules and burdening local hospitals.

– Narrowed testing windows. The more recently a test is taken, the less likely the passenger has been infected in the interim. For those passengers arriving at check-in with a negative test result instead of taking a rapid test before departure, the window should be reduced from 72 hour to 24 hours before the flight. That requires wider availability of tests and faster turnarounds. Even better if the test can be done reliably at the airport.

– Cheaper, more accessible testing. An obvious extension of the previous item. The cheaper and more widely available testing is, the better. Under $50 per person per test, Simpliflying recommends.

– Selective testing on arrival. With robust testing regimens before departure, tests on arrival become less necessary, but they can be used to further reduce risk when applied to travelers from high-risk countries. They can also be carried out some days after arrival.

– Bio-safety measures remain in place. These are the measures already taken by airlines and airports.

– Track and trace. Simpliflying points to effective tools like the app that travelers need to download upon arrival in Dubai.

– A global registry of approved tests for aviation. Simpliflying proposes a registry of tests “where the accuracy has been validated by a credible third party organisation, as well as a sytem of ensuring test results can be digitally captured and shared.”

No solution at this point would be 100% effective at keeping all infections out. The point is that we should be looking at ways to minimize the risk while recognizing that borders need to open and people need to get moving again. There is research that indicates a good testing regimen can be highly effective, and can even replace quarantines.

We need many more pilot programs like that being done by Westjet in cooperation with Vancouver Airport. As they put it, the pilot incorporates “current best practices on testing, pulling together industry players and experts to lead in the research and development of solutions that support aviation safety and slow the spread of COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, London’s Heathrow Airport has trialed rapid testing but there is no indication yet that the government is seriously evaluating the results as an alternative to quarantine. More data points on this front, gleaned from trials put on by airlines and others, should help to reaffirm that. With any luck, governments will listen.