In a first for U.S. airports, the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is piloting rapid coronavirus testing for flight crews and terminal employees. 

The goal is to eventually scale the program up and allow passengers to get tested as well, but figuring out how to accommodate potentially thousands of tests per day could be a challenge. 

"The thing that we're looking to get out of this is scalability," Doug Yakel, public information officer for SFO, told Cheddar. "Although initially this program is designed just for employees at the airport, we want to take some of the lessons that we learned here and think about applying them to a larger audience, namely passengers."

The hope is that rapid testing will allow the beleaguered airline industry to embrace a new post-COVID reality. 

"If you think about the way air travel is changing, there's a new normal that's emerging," Yakel said. "We envision that some sort of health certification is going to be a part of that."

The way it works now is that employees register and then visit a designated testing site within the terminal. Once they're tested using a nasal swab, they wait in a set area until the results arrive — sometimes as quickly as 15 minutes.  

Yakel said the goal is for employees to come to the testing location and know their status before they leave the premises. 

Currently, employees can pay for the test through their insurance, or their employers can pre-purchase a block of tests for a set number of workers. 

The airport is currently testing fewer than 50 people per day but plans to scale up quickly. 

"We think we have the capacity for several hundred a day, but obviously if you introduce a much larger audience you need the facilities, you need the personnel, you need everything that goes with it to scale it up, but we're off to a good start," Yakel said. 

For now, SFO has not a set timeline for opening the testing site to passengers. 

Share:
More In Business
FBI’s NBA probe puts sports betting businesses in the spotlight
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla’s profit fell in third quarter even as sales rose
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Load More