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Outbound COVID testing launched at Heathrow

London's Heathrow airport, one of the biggest in Europe, is now giving passengers rapid COVID tests for their outbound flights.

They're designed to return results in an hour - as part of an effort to re-open restricted routes, create travel corridors and provide much-needed traffic for airlines.

The tests were launched on Tuesday (October 20) in conjunction with the airport, IAG's British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific...

initially for flights to Hong Kong, where incoming passengers must be able to show proof of a negative test.

David Evans is the joint chief executive of medical travel firm Collinson, which is running the tests with airport services company, Swissport.

"The industry recognises that testing has always been a proposal that we think is a key part of the solution for getting travel moving again, and I think that there's a lot of support to make sure that we can get these things up and running, and moving quickly."

Evans said he expected outbound testing to be rolled out for Italy and other European destinations in the coming days and weeks.

The firms have also set up an inbound testing facility at Heathrow, though it is yet to be approved for use by the government.