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Passengers taking off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport can check off one more thing on their travel list: Have an optional COVID-19 test on the go.
Beginning Wednesday, for a fee, passengers can choose to take a test — whether it’s because their destination wants proof they aren’t sick, or as a last-minute assurance to protect grandma back home.
Two tests will be available: One that offers quick results, and one that takes longer but is considered to be the most accurate.
The Fort Lauderdale airport will be the latest U.S. airport to start offering COVID-19 tests. About half of the country’s 30 large hub airports already offer them.
One of the other South Florida airports also may soon offer the tests, too: Palm Beach International Airport isn’t providing them, but a provider could be chosen in February, according to a spokeswoman.
Testing at the Fort Lauderdale airport will be available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week at the Terminal 3 baggage claim pre-security area — near JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, which makes up 93% of the international flights, said Mark Gale, director of aviation for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
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The plan is the brainchild of County Commissioner Mark Bogen, who was inspired by Tampa International Airport, which was the first U.S. airport to make both types of COVID-19 tests available to all ticketed passengers in October.
“By offering it at the airport, it might help increase passenger traffic to those destinations who require a COVID test when you arrive, which might help air traffic,” Bogen said. “It will allow passengers to reach more destinations that require test results.”
Gale said the demand is there.
Masked passengers check into a Spirit Airlines flight, Wednesday. Dec. 2, 2020, at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Ineterantional Airport. The airport will begin offering onsite 15 minute COVID-19 rapid tests.
Masked passengers check into a Spirit Airlines flight, Wednesday. Dec. 2, 2020, at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Ineterantional Airport. The airport will begin offering onsite 15 minute COVID-19 rapid tests. (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The state of Pennsylvania, for example, required travelers to show a negative test to enter just before Thanksgiving, he said. “This is an amenity that is in demand by our patrons, [as a] destination-specific requirement as well as the opportunity to take a test prior to going home and visiting family and loved ones.”
Gale said he hoped the availability of the tests would “boost confidence in flying.”
He expects “several hundred tests a day” — not to the general public, but only those with a ticket or travel itinerary through Fort Lauderdale.
The agency conducting the testing will be Utah-based Nomi Health, which launched in 2019 to provide services by eliminating traditional corporate health insurance plans.
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Viola Hysenlika, a spokeswoman for BayCare Health System, which administers the tests in Tampa, said the response there has been successful.
From Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, there have been 3,984 PCR nasal swab tests that get results in about 48 hours, and can be reserved by passengers who have a plane flight three days later. There have been 3,659 rapid antigen tests, also nasal swabs, that have results within 15 minutes, she said.
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Fort Lauderdale will offer the same two tests.
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The list is constantly changing, but just a few of the places that currently require visitors to have negative test results include the Bahamas, Barbados and Belize. The state of Hawaii also requires proof its tourists don’t have the virus.
Some facts about the testing:
Passengers can register online, choose walk-up testing if there is available space, and get test results emailed.
The cost to take the PCR COVID-19 test will be $99 and the rapid antigen test will be $69.
The Miami International Airport will not offer testing.
The airport instead decided to “encourage travelers to get tested before arriving at MIA, to avoid the inconvenience of rescheduling or canceling their travel plans at the airport if they receive a positive test result,” said Greg Chin, agency spokesman. “We also want to avoid passengers testing positive at the airport and potentially trying to move forward with their travel plans anyway.”
In Broward, Gale said if someone tests positive, that information could be shared with the airline, preventing the passenger from flying.
