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Lufthansa to offer free pre-flight Covid-19 tests in Germany

AFP/DPA/The Local
AFP/DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Lufthansa to offer free pre-flight Covid-19 tests in Germany

German airline giant Lufthansa will soon start the first trial run to test all passengers for the coronavirus before their flight takes off.

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Starting next Thursday November 12th, all passengers on individual flights between Munich and Hamburg will be able to take a rapid antigen test free of charge, the company announced Friday in Frankfurt. 

READ ALSO: Explained: How and when can I receive a Covid-19 test in Germany?

Alternatively, passengers could present a negative PCR test that is no more than 48 hours old, or be transferred to another flight free of charge. The test results should be available after 30 to 60 minutes.

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According to Lufthansa's CEO Carsten Spohr, the company has purchased 250,000 antigen tests to study the processes. The airline hopes that the rapid tests will enable it to offer more flight connections again, especially overseas. 

"Successful testing of entire flights can be the key to reviving international air traffic," said Board member Christina Foerster. 

In the Lufthansa Group, the rapid tests have already been tested on flights of the subsidiary Austrian airlines between Berlin and Vienna.

Spohr said he was convinced that the pharmaceutical industry could quickly supply much larger quantities of the rapid tests than has been the case so far.

Antigen tests provide faster, but so far less accurate results than PCR tests.

Lufthansa on Thursday posted a third quarter net loss of €2 billion as it prepares for a "hard and challenging" winter amid lockdowns to curb the coronavirus pandemic, said Spohr.

Europe's largest airline said it will fly a maximum of 25 percent of normal capacity from October to December and expects to burn through €350 million in cash a month.

Vocabulary

trial run - (der) Probelauf

alternatively - ersatzweise

present/produce something - vorlegen

rebook/change a booking - umbuchen

We're aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

 

 


 

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