Scottish airport bosses call for Covid-19 passenger tests as students double-tested for Christmas

The chief executive of Glasgow and Aberdeen Airport's calling on the Scottish Government to give them the ability to double-test passengers for Covid-19.

It's after it was announced this week that students travelling home for Christmas will be tested twice for the virus.

The aviation industry is currently experiencing an all time low passenger count, and is generating 5-10% of revenues since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Derek Provan, Chief Executive of AGS Airports, said: "At Glasgow, we're operating with the same passenger volumes as we saw in the early 70s.

"But more importantly, next year you can't switch aviation back on like a light switch.

"Next year we're looking at a passenger number at the airport that's similar to the level we saw in the 1990s."

Mr Provan says the testing which has been introduced for students is exactly the measures they've been calling on for months.

He said: "We've been saying now for three or four months, that double-testing is the way in which you can open up aviation again.

"You test somebody on arrival, and you test somebody at some point after arrival - what that would do is it would reduce 14 days of quarantine.

"We can open up the industry very quickly by reducing those 14 days, by doing exactly the same thing that we're planning to do for students - which is the right thing for students.

"The 14 days quarantine is a hammer blow for this industry.

"When we speak to customers coming through this airport, their challenge isn't that they have a fear of contracting coronavirus in Portugal, their fear is that when they go to Portugal they'll be confined to 14 days quarantine."

The boss of Edinburgh Airport also shares concerns around testing, and worries the UK is falling behind other countries.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "My worry is we're going to be left behind.

"We might be thinking about what Scottish version of testing is right, but if everybody else has done it already we'll just end up copying them only we'll be months behind.

"We can see what's happened in Europe where lots of governments are now starting to agree the standard of testing, and many individual countries have already deployed an inbound testing regime to let people travel, including the Canaries.

"We do have many good examples of where many other governments have concluded this is the right way forward."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "We fully understand the aviation industry’s concerns and will continue to explore whether there is a safe alternative to quarantine, but we are clear that the risk to public health must be minimised.

"Representatives from the sector have acknowledged this during the ongoing constructive engagement we are having with them.

"We are not yet satisfied that moving from quarantine to testing would provide enough protection – people in the early stages of incubation of the virus could test negative and go on to develop the virus and spread it.

"There are a number of complex logistical and clinical considerations to be resolved, and the Scottish Government and industry agree any potential impacts to existing testing capacity must be carefully considered.

"However, we continue to engage with airport representatives on how testing at airports could work and to assess and understand the impact on public health."

Hear all the latest news from across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk on Forth 1. Listen on FM, via the Rayo app, on DAB or on your smart speaker.