Airlines
IATA Reticent on Covid Testing for Passengers
The International Air Transport Association has raised concerns over cost, speed, scalability, and accuracy of current Covid 19 testing.

After taking a stridently oppositional stance to governments’ imposition of quarantines for arriving passengers to help stem the spread of Covid-19, the International Air Transport Association on Tuesday expressed reservations about mandated virus testing as well due to cost, speed, scalability, and accuracy concerns. Speaking during the association’s weekly conference call to address Covid issues affecting the airline industry, IATA medical advisor Dr. David Powell noted the “not insignificant” cost of $150 per Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test and raised concerns over the possibility of false-negative results. If, for example, the test carries a 99 percent accuracy rate, an average of three passengers out of 300 on a widebody flight who tested negative would, in fact, carry the disease, he noted.