In an effort to keep Europe moving, Austrian Airlines is moving to mandatory COVID-19 testing on a route.
Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The first route to trial this will be the Vienna to Hamburg route, which will go live on the 12th November. It will apply to OS171 (Vienna-Hamburg) and OS172 (Hamburg-Vienna) to integrate Covid-19 rapid antigen tests in the travel chain.
The first phase of the project is currently underway and will last until November 8, 2020. Currently, passengers are offered the possibility to undergo the tests voluntarily.
In the next step, tests will be obligatory for passengers and the crew on selected flights. This ensures that all persons on board have tested negative for Covid-19. The implementation of the free Covid-19 rapid antigen tests will take place in close cooperation with the Lufthansa Group as well as the respective airports in Vienna and Hamburg.
After taking the test, passengers will receive their results within 10-15 minutes, either via SMS or, upon request, also after consulting medically trained staff. The boarding card is only activated if the test result is negative, enabling the passenger to gain entry to the security area and the gate.
If the test result is positive, the affected passenger will be taken care of by the airport medical service in order to fully clarify the individual’s medical condition.
Logistics
The Covid-19 rapid antigen test is performed at the testing centre at Vienna Airport or Hamburg by expert medical personnel. Vienna International Airport has set up a test centre for this purpose in the check-in area of Terminal 3, near counter 370. The tests are carried out by the medical staff of the airport.
Passengers can take the test before departure without having made an appointment in advance. When departing from Hamburg, it is possible to register online in advance and thus reduce waiting times. Passengers are requested to come to the respective testing centre two hours before departure. The test results are checked by the gate personnel during the boarding process. No data is exchanged, noted down or passed on. These flights can only be boarded with negative Covid-19 test results. Alternatively, Austrian Airlines also accept negative PCR test results which are not older than 48 hours at departure. In this case, passengers are also requested to report to the testing centre.
The pilot phase of the mandatory Covid-19 tests is currently scheduled to last until the end of November 2020. The antigen tests do not replace the PCR tests that some countries require for entry.
So why the testing?
Lufthansa Group is working out how to kick-start travel again – even in times of governments having tight entry policies due to a rise in COVID-19. These tests and trials aim to see how to integrate the testing procedure in the passengers’ travel process and design it in such a manner as to be as “pleasant” as possible.
If the trial runs become successful, the airline may offer the tests on a larger scale and extend them to other routes as well.
In Quotes
Austrian Airlines COO Jens Ritter said
“About 25 percent of the passengers volunteered to have themselves tested in the first testing phase”.
“Our objective is to make quarantine regulations obsolete in the future on the basis of a sophisticated testing strategy. Mandatory tests are a further step on this path.“ In the medium term, the hope exists that the use of rapid tests will lead to a loosening of the numerous travel restrictions and make travelling easier and possible to plan once again.
Julian Jäger, Member of the Management Board of the airport operating company Flughafen Wien AG saif
“Economy and tourism urgently need more freedom to travel. We therefore need solutions that offer security and can be integrated into the travel process. Rapid antigen testing is a way out of the Covid-19 crisis. The test operation at Vienna Airport works very well and we are pleased that Austrian is now expanding this offer to the Hamburg connection”.
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