The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt across the globe, and has been a major blow to the aviation industry. Governments worldwide in 2020 and into 2021 sought to minimise loss of life through lockdowns and travel restrictions, grounding planes and bringing international travel to a near standstill. 2021 has seen the much-anticipated large-scale rollout of vaccines, which has signalled a possible return to normality, at least for some parts of the world.
As different sectors of the economy gradually unlock, it’s clear that both vaccines and testing are going to continue to play an important role in keeping us safe. When it comes to testing, however, air travel poses a unique challenge. Airports see thousands of passengers and staff passing through every day from all parts of the world, raising the risk of infection and of spreading variant strains into new countries.
As a result of this, extensive testing for COVID-19 is being demanded from passengers. In the UK two particular types of testing, antigen testing and PCR testing, are currently the preferred solutions. The typical requirement is to possess a negative test, normally a PCR test, a maximum of 72 hours prior to departure for presentation to the airline, and a single PCR test on or before day 2 of arrival back into England. In addition, some countries such as Portugal have been demanding a pre-departure PCR test 3 days before flying, and if you’re arriving from an amber listed company, then you’ll need to do an additional day 8 test when you return.
These testing routines are time and cost intensive, and there are concerns about the practicalities of maintaining them. An antigen or PCR test, taken at home or abroad, also doesn’t take away all the risk of flying- for example, a passenger could pick up an infection in the period between testing and arriving at the airport.
Neutralising Antibody Tests
A neutralising antibody test could play an effective role here. Antibody tests differ from the other COVID-19 tests, as they tell what a person’s immunity to COVID-19 is, rather than detecting the mere presence of the virus. If the test is positive, it means that the body has developed neutralising antibodies to protect from the disease. A recent study in Nature Medicine in May 2021 has shown that these antibodies are highly predictive of immune protection.
By testing for neutralising antibodies, passengers could potentially cut the cost and hassle of air travel significantly. Imagine a traveller who flies once a month to Portugal return over a three month period. They’d need two tests on the way out, for instance one PCR ($80) before departing, and one antigen ($30) on day two of arrival. They would then need another PCR test ($80) while abroad for the way back. A return flight would end up costing $190 for this passenger, and over the three month period this would add up to $570. A neutralising antibody test could cost just $30, and provide our passenger with a three-month certificate of immunity that covers the cost of all the flights in that period. And that immunity certificate could cover a range of other uses, including going to work, conferences and crowded events.
When considering the 140 passengers on an A320 airliner, these costs add up. Based on one return flight, the cost would be around $28,000 if PCR / Antigen was used. In many cases you would be asking passengers to pay more than the cost of their ticket just for testing. For budget airlines, this additional cost could be a real problem when convincing passengers to return to flying.
Neutralising antibody tests aren’t a one-stop solution- in the case that no antibodies were present in someone taking the test, they’d still need to perform an antigen / PCR test to determine suitability to travel. But tests like AbC-19 could be integrated alongside the other tools available to us to make sure we are flying safely and cost-effectively. And by lowering the cost of flying for passeners, airports and airlines, these tests could help the sector get back on its feet more quickly too.
Chris Yates is CEO of Abingdon Health, a UK-based leading developer of high-quality rapid tests. Chris joined Abingdon Health as CEO in July 2015, having previously been CFO at Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings plc and Cozart plc, two medical diagnostic Groups.
