Compulsory Covid tests could make air travel 'affordable only for rich people', Southend Airport boss warns
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Compulsory Covid tests could make air travel affordable only for rich people, an airport boss today warned.
London Southend Airport chief executive Glyn Jones fears budget airline passengers could be put off taking foreign holidays because of the test costs and quarantine.
PCR tests are mandatory for air passengers arriving in the UK and also for outbound passengers travelling to some foreign destinations.
A private medical company has opened a testing clinic at Southend airport. Tests are expected to cost £99.
"The costs of the test both for example before you get into a country and then before you get back to the UK and after you get back to the UK are so high that I've been talking to people within the care sector, and they've said they've had to cancel their holidays just because of the costs of the test," said Glyn Jones.
"If we get to a situation in which a test which is required and is required multiple times, is three times the price of a ticket on a low-cost carrier then we do risk reducing it to the province of the rich, which it was many years ago," he added.
Southend airport is due to reopen to passenger flights on May 28th after a six-month 'hibernation' because of lockdown restrictions.
The airport was used by 2.15m passengers in 2019 but that dropped to 147,000 in 2020 because of the pandemic.