Vienna airport is now offering coronavirus testing for arriving passengers, with the aim of avoiding 14 days of quarantine under Austria’s current entry rules.
The molecular-biological Covid-19 test (also known as a PCR test) costs €190, and is carried out in a laboratory at Office Park 3 on the ground floor at Vienna Airport.
The result is available within two to three hours, and those presenting negative will be provided with a medical certificate meaning they do not have to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival into the country.
Current regulations mean that arriving travellers must either present a medical certificate not more than four days old showing a negative Covid-19 result, or begin quarantine.
Vienna airport said that this meant its private service (provided by Confidence DNA Analysen GmbH) could also be used for passengers departing on short trips up to four days, to avoid quarantine on return to Austria.
The airport said that the service meant that “flights are now safer and easier – regardless of whether they involve business trips or urgent trips with on-demand aircraft within the context of general aviation, in particular if they last no more than four days, as well as arrivals and departures on scheduled flights from and to currently available destinations and via the General Aviation Center”.
It added that positive test results would be “immediately reported to public authorities, who will initiate appropriate steps to treat the affected person”.
Travellers wishing to avail of the test should call (+43) 1 368 45 54, or email [email protected]. The airport said that travellers entering Austria from abroad can reserve an appointment in advance “and thus gain clarity promptly after arriving in Vienna as to whether or not they have to quarantine themselves”.
In addition to the optional testing, all passengers are subject to temperature checks on arrival, and are required to wear face coverings when inside the terminal building. In addition various social distancing measures are in place including a limit on the number of passengers on boarding buses, and plexi-glass shields at check-in, boarding and information desks.
Flag carrier and Vienna-based Austrian Airlines has grounded all flights until at least the end of May, but flights are currently operating between Vienna and Doha, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lisbon, Minsk and Sofia.
Note that entry by air into Austria is currently prohibited to third country nationals from states outside the Schengen area.
