Airline executives say COVID-19 tests for passengers on US flights not feasible, fair, or needed: ‘It’s wholly impractical’
is under consideration.
And they weren’t alone.
The president of JetBlue Airways bluntly said the airline doesn’t support the measure.
The CEO of American Airlines took a more diplomatic stance but said testing all passengers would be difficult and “would have us testing Americans on airplanes that we all know are safe to be on.”
The airline officials, asked about the CDC proposal by Wall Street analysts and reporters on their earnings conference calls Thursday, said they didn’t have much, if any, information on what’s on the table.
“It’s not clear if, when, what, how we’d be asked to do that,” Southwest Airlines President Tom Nealon said.
“It hasn’t been floated to us,” American CEO Doug Parker said. “We haven’t heard anything directly from regulators or others about that possibility.”
Parker and others have said they supported the addition of COVID-19 testing on international flights to the U.S. because it was seen as a way to reopen international borders. Industry officials had hoped the new testing regime would result in a reduction in quarantines and other international travel restrictions, especially for travel to Europe, but those have not yet been relaxed.
The prospect of domestic testing was raised in a media briefing on Tuesday with Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.
His comments came the same day a COVID-19 testing requirement went into effect for all passengers boarding international flights to the U.S. Travelers will be denied boarding unless they provide a negative test result taken no more than three days prior to their flight or show proof of recovery from COVID-19 in the past three months.
Rochelle Walensky, appeared to double down on the idea of mandatory testing on domestic flights during a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper.
Walensky said there is money in the budget to boost the availability of COVID-19 tests, with much of it designated for testing in schools.
“But I would like to really see much of that budget, and I think the Biden administration (does) as well, to use it for high-risk activities, and one of those high-risk activities would be for travel and domestic flights.”
Despite talk of new testing to help fight the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the CDC and the U.S. State Department have a more urgent message for Americans: don’t travel at all.
“I want to emphasize that now is not the time to be traveling period, internationally or domestically,” Walensky said.
Here are the reasons airlines cite for opposing or expressing concern about COVID-19 testing on US flights
Lack of tests
JetBlue President Joanna Geraghty said COVID-19 testing slots in many parts of the country are scarce and results can take days.
“When you start thinking about a framework that‘s already overburdened and you add domestic travel into that, this puts a ton of pressure on an already fragile system.”
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said he thinks mandatory testing “would be a mistake” because of testing access and the costs of administering the tests.
“I just think it’s wholly impractical,” he said.
Kelly said the focus should be on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines.
that is happening in Mexico and other countries since the international testing requirement was announced on Jan. 12 as travelers don’t want to risk not being able to find a test or testing positive and being stranded at their own expense.
If any domestic restrictions are proposed, Parker said, “we certainly would want to make sure it’s not something that would restrict demand.”
A logistical nightmare
With international travel already severely restricted due to global travel reservations, there are far fewer international flights to the U.S. than flights within the U.S.
