Wizz Air to offer cheaper Covid tests for passengers

The £85 tests will be available from 27 November

Wizz Air will be offering cheaper coronavirus tests to its passengers (Getty Images)

Hungarian airline Wizz Air has announced a new partnership that will provide cheaper PCR coronavirus tests for its British passengers.

The package, offered through Confirm Testing from 27 November, will cost £85 and includes a “Fit to Fly” certificate showing the result. The same test without the Wizz Air discount is normally £119.99.

According to Confirm Testing, the home-testing kits meet the requirements “for those needing tests 72 and 96 hours before departure” and can be ordered weeks in advance, with no special instructions for storage.

Each kit contains a collection bottle filled with saline solution and a swab, as well as a protective packing wallet, a clear specimen bag to seal your sample, sample label, and request form.

The kit will be delivered to you via Royal Mail next-day delivery, and when you’re ready, you simply perform the test yourself and return the collected samples using the prepaid envelope provided.

The sample is then analysed in Confirm Testing’s UKAS-accredited laboratory, which adheres to internationally-recognised ISO 17025 standards.

If you test negative, you will be provided with a Fit to Fly certificate before you travel. Alternatively, you can also book the test for when you return from your trip.

The partnership comes as the government confirmed that those returning from a destination that’s not on the travel corridors list can shorten their quarantine period by taking a test five days into quarantine.

If this test comes back negative, quarantine can be ended early.

Wizz Air isn’t the only travel firm to offer discounted Covid tests in a bid to get people travelling again.

From 30 November, passengers booked to fly from Gatwick airport can obtain a test for just £60 – less than half the prevailing rate.

The Sussex airport is subsidising the cost for travellers with bookings as well as airport staff. The general public is also able to use the facility, but must pay £99.

The screening, in conjunction with ExpressTest, will take place within the airport’s Long Stay Car Park at the South Terminal.

But crucially, holidaymakers will not be able to test shortly before departure because the tests take at least 24 hours to analyse. In addition, the firm is making no guarantees regarding timeframes.