As the Covid-19 pandemic looks set to become an endemic, travel industry players are looking to bring back a semblance of normality to the air travel experience.
Israel's national carrier El Al has rolled out an inflight Covid-19 testing pilot programme, which will enable passengers to skip the mandatory tests upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The airline has partnered XpresSpa, a health and wellness business, to trial the Covid-19 testing programme on flights departing New York's John F Kennedy Airport.
According to The Times of Israel, specially qualified personnel will administer the tests during the flight and mark the culture sample with a barcode to identify the passenger it came from.
However, El Al noted that the pilot programme is not a substitute for the Covid-19 test that passengers have to undergo up to 72 hours before a flight.