Lufthansa to offer rapid coronavirus testing – but only for first and business class passengers

Airline plans to launch antigen tests in October

Lufthansa discusses rolling out 15-minute Covid tests

Lufthansa has announced it plans to offer rapid Covid-19 testing to passengers, although it’s likely only those with first and business class tickets will be eligible initially.

The German flag carrier is looking to use antigen tests, which can be administered and processed on site and typically take just 15 minutes to yield a result.

This is a much quicker turnaround that the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) swab tests, so far favoured by airlines, which take several hours to process in a lab.

“You know that companies like Abbott or Roche are bringing these tests to the market and we are definitely looking into this,” said Bjoern Becker, senior director for product management, ground and digital services at the Lufthansa Group, reports Reuters.

He was referring to antigen tests that are small and quick to use, such as Abbott’s disposable BinaxNOW, which is the size of a credit card and costs just $5.

“You will see us applying [to] them for new products within the next few weeks in October.  

“That’s definitely the next thing to come.”

Becker added that the airline group was considering rolling the service out to first and business class travellers only at the outset due to limited supplies of tests.

Lufthansa is also discussing opening test centres in the US and Canada, two important markets for the airline.

A Lufthansa spokesperson told The Independent: “Restrictions on travel are a massive barrier to the economy. It is therefore necessary to define framework conditions for adjusting travel restrictions and to find regulations that allow health protection and economic, but also private, exchange across borders.

“In this context, binding negative Covid-19 tests prior to departure could be one element, in addition to measures for health protection that apply in principle, to allow bilateral exceptions to the entry ban. 

“We are working with partners in the USA on transatlantic pilot routes in order to gain experience for our customers and for us in the use of rapid tests and for travel under corona prevention measures. 

“We are constantly in contact with various pharmaceutical companies to keep ourselves informed about the development of corona tests. In the coming weeks we plan to purchase batches of so-called rapid tests and offer them to our customers. Testing for corona remains the best way to contain the pandemic.”

Antigen tests work slightly differently to the PCR; although both are diagnostic tests, PCRs detect the virus’s genetic material, while antigen tests detect specific proteins on the surface of the virus.

According to the FDA, while antigen tests are “usually highly accurate” when it comes to positive results, “negative results may need to be confirmed with a molecular test.”

It adds that antigen tests can’t “definitively rule out active coronavirus infection. Antigen tests are more likely to miss an active coronavirus infection compared to molecular tests.”