Low-cost Covid tests for air passengers and the creation of a traffic light system for Christmas travel from places like the US, are among the proposals included in a draft report on the aviation industry from the members of Ireland’s Oireachtas Transport Committee.
It has been proposed that the Covid tests should be affordable and cost no more than €50.
The report was compiled after meetings with representatives from airlines and airports withe the aim of helping the travel industry recover.
Covid testing is a requirement in Ireland for travel under the EU’s new Traffic Light system.
It is aimed at reducing, or eliminating, quarantine periods from red or orange listed countries.
New European guidelines for travel, published jointly by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), states that people travelling home from abroad for Christmas should not automatically be considered as high-risk instead, they should be treated in the same way as members of the local population, who have not had any direct contact to a person infected with Covid-19.
According to European experts, incoming travellers are likely to contribute “little to the on-going spread of the virus”.
