After Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa, Eurowings now also wants to introduce rapid corona tests. These will initially be offered in Düsseldorf from the end of the year. In the first phase, passengers traveling to holiday destinations are to be tested before their outward and return flights.

A Eurowings spokesman told Westdeutscher Rundfunk that the goal is to save passengers a possible quarantine. It is also hoped that it can be ensured that no one can become infected during the flight. This is to boost demand.

However, there is also a catch, because currently not a single EU country recognizes a negative antigen result as a substitute for a negative PCR result. The Canaries have taken this step, but this contradicts a more recent order of the Spanish central government, which causes additional confusion. Many countries, including Germany, do not even accept a negative PCR result as a substitute for quarantine. Nevertheless, there is speculation in the aviation industry that there will be a political rethink and they want to offer turnkey solutions. The EU Commission is now pushing for this procedure, but only a few member states are actually interested in it.

Eurowings did not provide any information on possible costs for passengers. According to WDR A comparable solution for rapid tests is also to be worked on at Cologne / Bonn Airport. In any case, Eurowings wants to offer this at other airports in the medium term.