American Airlines has withdrawn its plan to carry out COVID-19 rapid testing prior to allowing passengers to board flights, The Bahamas director general of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation Joy Jibrilu announced, adding that the airline found the exercise complex and cost-prohibitive.

Jibrilu, who was a speaker at the Counsellors Limited’s Exuma Business Outlook held recently, said the airline, which was piloting its rapid testing program with flights to The Bahamas and Jamaica, has scrapped the plan for all destinations.

“We were so very excited when American Airlines made the announcement about the partnership with The Bahamas and Jamaica in the first instance for rapid antigen testing at Miami International Airport. In our discussions they talked about this test being available for anyone travelling to any of the destinations within The Bahamas that they flew to,” Jibrilu said.

“So, last week, in trying to finalise the details, in trying to marry that with the new travel health visa system that the Gvernment is putting in place, American Airlines unfortunately shared the news that they could never have imagined the complexity of putting such a system in place and trying to work with Miami International Airport,” she continued.

“They had already sourced the right type of test, but putting in place the logistics and doing the tests and the demos that they had to, it became so cost-prohibitive, but it also became something they could not manage in the time they had envisaged.”

The Bahamas plans to carry out similar testing on anyone coming into the country beginning November 1, but will still require those arriving to also provide a negative RT/PCR COVID-19 test.

Jibrilu further indicated that if someone is found to be positive but asymptomatic, they will be allowed to vacation in place and pay a per diem, however if the traveller is found to be asymptomatic but has comorbidities (the presence of one or more additional conditions), or if they present with symptoms, a medevac flight will return them home.