Virgin Atlantic has begun trials of rapid pre-flight Covid-19 tests for cabin crew and pilots departing Heathrow airport. Click here to read the full story.
The trials are currently taking place for flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai, with plans to extend this to departures to Barbados and “select services” later this month.
Ultimately the plan is to test all operating crew at least once a month.
The airline also said that it continues to call for UK and US governments to introduce a pre-departure testing solution to remove quarantine and minimise travel restrictions.
This comes as a study by Air Canada finds the 14 day quarantine ineffective, claiming that a shorter, test-based strategy may be an available and safe alternative to the 14-day quarantine.
Out of 13,000 tests so far completed on returning international travellers, less than 1 per cent have tested positive for COVID-19. Of the less than 1 per cent who did test positive, more than 80 per cent were detected during the initial test which is completed shortly after landing and before the passenger has left Toronto airport.
The remaining 20 per cent of positive cases were detected on day seven, while zero positive cases were detected by day 14.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to scrap what it describes as “ineffective” quarantine rules and would instead like to see countries adopt mass pre-departure COVID-19 testing using rapid screening technologies that can provide results in just 15-minutes.
The Green Motion teams at both London Heathrow as well as Toronto Airport, along with their Green Motion network colleagues across the world, have worked hard to ensure that each and every Green Motion rental location has installed our industry-leading COVID-19 Shield Customer & Staff Safety Procedures, giving our valued customers and colleagues the peace of mind that every precaution has been taken for their safety and well being.