Qantas CEO: rapid preflight COVID tests could restart overseas travel

A 15 minute Covid test that can identify small traces of virus without missing any, so with no false negatives is certainly the holy grail. Alan you’re dreaming!!!!

Haha, wishful thinking. A full refund no doubt when we test positive and are dragged away by the AFP.

Profoundly thrilling 15 minutes.

Is anyone aware of evidence-based medicine that supports this possibility?

I can do COVID Antibodies in 20minutes 😁

As far as I'm aware, the quickest tests currently available (that are reliable) are around the hour mark. And they require expensive specialised equipment, proprietary chemical testing cassettes, and experienced staff. 

Also, like all COVID tests, pre-symptomatic people may not show as positive (which is why there is a 14 day quarantine period even when people return a negative test).

Finally, there would surely need to be some kind of insurance or flexibility so that if you did test positive and couldn't get on your flight, you would be able to get a refund on flights, accommodation etc ... otherwise, only the super rich, the desperate or the foolish would book knowing they could be flushing their money down the drain.

It's alright - Qantas has figured out that the best way to run an airline is to not fly until everyone else is bankrupt, and then jump in again.  They're happy to be the Australian carrier that doesn't fly to or from Australia, and instead just run a mediocre frequent flyer program for a population that earns all of their points by shopping at Woolies.

September is D - Month, the longer it takes to start the economy after September the quantifying of loss to GDP for the years to come. I would be realising vaccines to everyone at stage 3.

Vital information on this vital subject ....

https://youtu.be/kDj4Zyq3yOA

Industry cannot wait for nor rely upon a vaccine, pre-flight testing (rapid or otherwise), together with other measures is the only way our crucial airline industry can safely resume its globally vital role. But where are ICAO and IATA on this? It is these two influential bodies that have a duty to promote the uniform, standardised utilisation of such measures. Only by having a globally standardised COVID safe system, will public confidence be restored. Industry did exactly that post 9/11, time to do it again, quickly! 

I always thought in Qantas’ portfolio, domestic travel is far more profitable by far and until recently international routes had trouble competing with other airlines even with the protectionism of international routes supported by government politics. 

Which is why I am surprised by his push for international travel here although I suppose it was tailored for a meeting with an international crowd and the costs of wide body planes meant they are far more expensive to keep on the ground than in the air.

I seriously doubt Qantas will want to be involved in the actual testing and certification since it would involved a large testing area in the airport so if such a scheme is going to be required they would likely to pass the ball to international airport (not border force) and the bill to the pax of course

Surely there must be quite a crowd of people who have had the virus and could start traveling again, could it be that those already infected and had few effects will be the first to start traveling again, would then Australia and NewZealand be the last on that list as the rest of the world resumes flights.

I'm not concerned about leaving OZ, what happens if you test positive before you board your return flight?  2 weeks stuck in quarantine, your holiday just became a whole lot more expensive!!

Pzdipr, not the best time to take an o/s holiday what with quarantine and only business class fares coming back.

International borders and Travel should be opened.. it's obviously manageable. It seems to be ok for sport's stars and celebrities.. I'm sure there's many people who would like to leave and not return.. people should have the right to atleast leave if they choose.. 

Not a chance, his "rapid tests" will be like 3-5 hours for a result.

But exactly that is what is needed and our efforts should go into a test that only takes less than 30mins for a result.

Before Alan Joyce jumps on the International bandwagon with rapdi covid-19 tests, perhaps he should get the protocols for domestic travel within Australia in order for both Qantas and Jetsar. 

A few days ago now, a woman from Melbourne with her 4 kids flew on a Jetstar flight from Melbourne via Adelaide, trying to get to Alice Springs. She has tested positive for the coronavirus on arrival into SA and did not have the correct border paperwork to enter SA, she had none at all, they are all in hotel quarantine courtesy of  SA tax payers.

Shouldn't the airlines be checking for the approipate border paperwork when a passenger presents their boarding pass to board their flight and refuse them boarding if they do not have it? Or is it, we have you money for you airfares thanks and this is where the airline's obligation ends, with no accountability of who they let travel?

Alan Joyce wants rapid covid-19 tests, what a joke, when he can't do his bit for each Australian state and the people who live within these states by enfocing the border conditions for each state by making sure each passenger has the appropriate border paperwork, so those of us in these states these passengers are traveling to, can enjoy some sort of normality because we have followed the rules set out by our local government.

The airlines must ensure checks and balances have been completed for each boarding passenger. If any or all the states within Australia get a 2nd wave or a 3rd wave of covid-19 due to lack of testing if we end up going down this route and or appropriate paperwork, prior to boarding their flight the airline industry will suffer as well.

Will Alan Joyce compensate all the businesses that are forced into lock down and will probably go broke? Will he compensate all workers who are forced to isolate at home once again because the businesses they work for are shut once again or worse gone broke and these workers are now unemployed?

Alan Joyce needs to be reminded that the Avation industry is but one of the thousands of industries we have in this country that generate revenue for our economy, all of which are in jepdody if any state has a 2nd or 3rd wave of covid-19.

Can you get Covid-19 again? A person in Wuhan, China who contracted Covid-19 at the beginning of pandemic has tested positive again 5 months later, so it looks like they had no longterm immunity from catching COVID-19 again.

There is so much we all don't know about Covid-19. Can it remain active for a long period of time or dormant and reactivate? can it mutate into a different strain? Does covid-19 leave some people with underlying health issues in their future, when they had none before? I remain hopeful we will have a vaccine for Covi9-19 by March 2021.

I can see travel insurance companies not giving anyone travel insurance who has not had the covid-19 vaccination once a vaccine is available and we get back to some sort of normal. I can see them asking for proof, that you have had the vaccine jab.

I definitely will be having the covid-19 vaccine jab when its avaliable.