Starting December 15th, travelers from Atlanta to Amsterdam will have the opportunity to skip quarantine when flying with Delta Air Lines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Passengers will be allowed to be a part of the flight testing program which according to Delta, will allow travelers to participate in multiple COVID tests and if they test negative, they will be allowed to skip the Netherland’s quarantine.
Steve Sear, Delta’s president — international and executive Vice President — global sales, reveals in a statement, “Creating COVID-free travel corridors, in addition to the multiple layers of safety and hygiene measures we have implemented…will provide customers — and authorities — greater confidence that they can stay healthy when flying.”
Delta Air Lines has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assist with contact tracing for travelers.
The program is scheduled to run for there week and applies to travelers heading to Amsterdam for essential reasons such as school or work.
Pieter Elgers, president and CEO of KLM reveals in a statement, “Until an approved working vaccine is available worldwide, this testing program represents the first step towards the international travel industry’s recovery”
Elgers goes on to say, “All stakeholders need to work together on a systematic approach to rapid testing and build these tests into the passenger experience, so quarantine measures can be lifted as quickly as possible. This is fundamental to restore passengers’ and governments’ confidence in air travel.”
Those participating in the flight testing program will be taking the COVID-19 PCR test five days prior to arriving in Amsterdam as well as a rapid antigen test before boarding their flight in Atlanta. A second PCR test will be administered when arriving in the Netherlands.
Other airlines such as American Airlines, British Airways, and United Airlines are testing out similar programs.