WestJet and Air Canada Will Trial Airport COVID-19 Tests

Canada’s two largest airlines and two busiest airports are hoping to improve the fortunes of the country’s travel and tourism industry by taking COVID-19 tests into their own hands.

According to Reuters, Air Canada has plans for a voluntary COVID-19 test trial for passengers arriving at Toronto Pearson. The story quoted a Raymond James analyst as saying the move is being made “to help persuade the federal government to end stringent quarantine rules that have crippled air travel.”

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The Raymond James analysis note was based on a presentation by Air Canada Chief Financial Officer Michael Rousseau at a Raymond James conference on Tuesday. Reuters said Canada’s largest airline is working with the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and expects to begin a trial after the Labour Day holiday on Sept. 7.

The trial would consist of a test at Toronto’s Pearson Airport for passengers, followed by up to two tests at home.

Airline officials hope the data they collect “will convince the (federal) government to take more of a science-based approach with the 14-day quarantine requirement waived or reduced for those with successful (negative) tests,” Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth said in the note, according to the Reuters report.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Star reports that WestJet passengers at YVR in Vancouver may soon be taking COVID-19 tests before boarding their planes.

The Star said West Jet and YVR officials on Friday announced plans for a pilot project to test passengers for the coronavirus on some departing flights

The Star called the trials “the latest move in a broader push by carriers to show they are serious about combatting viral spread as they try to coax Canadians back to the skies.”

The CBC reports that Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says officials are looking into whether it's practical to test people for COVID-19 when they enter Canada instead of requiring them to quarantine.

"Absolutely. We'll be actively looking at those options," Tam said, adding that more research is required before any changes are introduced.

"As we look at options going forwards and we're sort of reducing the more restrictive measures at the border, how we apply testing in that context is being actively explored."

In a WestJet blog post on the WJ website, company CEO Ed Sims and Vancouver Airport Authority CEO Tamara Vrooman said the pilot “will incorporate current best practices on testing, pulling together industry players and experts to lead in the research and development of solutions that support aviation safety and slow the spread of COVID-19.”

“Why are we doing this? Our industry has always been heavily focused on safety and for us this pilot is a natural evolution of our historical commitment,” Sims and Vrooman wrote.

“It supports our efforts to uphold top safety standards, while instilling confidence for those who need to travel. It’s also about building collective knowledge and literacy, which will help inform longer-term solutions around communicable diseases.

“We are working with government and health authorities to ensure the data we collect is useful for their purposes and we will be partnering with academia to marry our expertise in passenger movements to science. Our team will closely scrutinize the trial results to learn how we can further improve travel processes and evolve our safety measures as required,” they said.

“We understand that COVID-19 testing is a rapidly evolving field with many unknowns. But we also know that we must continue to search for solutions—and that means being proactive, trialing processes, seeing what works and what needs improvement—all in an effort to help restart the global aviation industry in a safe manner and do our part to support economic recovery.

“We know air travel will take considerable time to recover to pre-pandemic levels and that COVID-19 will likely have a long-lasting impact on health screening in the travel journey,” Vrooman and Sims wrote. “And this is why we have a valuable role to play: because airlines and airports are about much more than just travel—we are major economic drivers, creating jobs, connecting markets, economies and ensuring that essential goods and services can be where they need to be.”

WestJet's participation comes on the heels of the company's announcement last week that passengers who refuse to wear masks on board WJ planes could face a yearlong travel ban.

WestJet customers must need to provide their contact information at check-in to help health authorities with contact tracing if an infected passenger is on the same flight.