Virgin Atlantic has launched at-home Covid testing bundles
in partnership with health diagnostics company Prenetics.
The airline will offer passengers bundles of tests based on the
UK Government’s risk-based travel traffic light system for arrivals to England,
starting from £152 for a ‘green’ country and £179 for an ‘amber’ country, based
on current test requirements.
The bundles include a rapid antigen test, which passengers can administer before returning to the UK, meeting England’s pre-departure testing requirements as well as all the tests passengers require on their return on days two and eight.
Passengers send their sample via a return envelope to an
accredited Prenetics lab and will receive their results within 24 hours of
receipt at the laboratory via email or notification on the website.
Round-trip bundles are initially available for Israel,
Nigeria and Grenada and as requirements ease, this list is set to expand.
The pre-purchased bundle can be changed if a destination
changes from green to amber for example, with customers simply required to pay
the difference or issued with a refund.
Corneel Koster, Virgin Atlantic’s chief customer and operating
officer, said: “We cannot have a prohibitively expensive testing system that
puts businesses and individuals off travelling, which is why we are pleased to
have worked closely with Prenetics to offer competitive prices for our
customers and will continue to review these regularly.
“With the UK’s world-leading vaccine roll-out, the Government
must also go further to expand the green list and significantly update the
traffic light framework, enabling travel without testing and quarantine – for ‘green’
countries and vaccinated passengers travelling to ‘amber’ destinations.”