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Airlines Plead for Mandatory Virus Tests to Prop Up Demand

  • IATA sees no other way to protect industry without vaccine
  • Quarantines are ‘killing’ the aviation market, de Juniac says
A traveler leaves a Covid-19 testing point inside Athens International Airport, in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 17.

A traveler leaves a Covid-19 testing point inside Athens International Airport, in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 17.

Photographer: Yorgos Karahalis/Bloomberg
Updated on

Universal coronavirus tests for departing passengers offer the only realistic hope of reviving demand for flights in the absence of a vaccine, the International Air Transport Association said.

The 100% adoption of rapid antigen tests, which should be available next month, would remove any need for quarantines that are currently “killing” the market, IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac said on a media call Tuesday.