With Covid infection rates once again on the rise, the UK’s London Biggin Hill Airport is now offering rapid result PCR tests to all passengers and aircrew. The airport, which was Europe’s first general aviation gateway to offer an on-site Covid testing facility, initiated the service in response to recent UK government travel requirements that call for all arrivals to self-isolate until they receive a negative PCR test result, regardless of vaccination status or country of origin.
Each £210 test must be pre-arranged through the airport’s website, and ground staff will deliver the requested test kits to passengers and crew aboard the aircraft upon landing. After the tests are administered the kits will then be collected and dispatched for rapid processing with the results available in as little as three hours, compared with the two-to-three-day turnaround for the standard PCR test.
“The airport has been quick to respond to the new travel requirements to ensure our passengers and crew can keep moving,” said Andy Patsalides, Biggin Hill’s head of marketing. “By providing on-arrival, same-day PCR tests, we are helping our customers take full advantage of our ‘contactless travel’ service whilst maintaining our high safety standards.”