Alitalia has announced plans to expand its Covid-free flight initiative to selected transatlantic services between Rome Fiumicino and New York JFK.
From this week passengers on one of the carrier’s three weekly frequencies between the two airports will be subject to mandatory testing.
Departing customers will be required to present “certification proving the negativity to Covid-19”, carried out no more than 48 hours before the flight, or agree to an antigen test at the Fiumicino prior to departure.
Passengers will also be required to carry out an antigen test on arrival into Rome, which will exempt them from the normal quarantine obligations upon entry into Italy. Note that “restrictions on entry into the United States provided for by the provisions of the American administration remain valid”.
Flights subject to mandatory testing will be cleared marked during the booking process.
Alitalia also said that:
- For these Covid-tested flights, passengers will be required to wear a protective surgical mask, and to have a sufficient spares to replace the mask every four hours
- Before boarding, customers will also be required to complete a form certifying that they have not had “close contact with people affected by Covid-19”
The carrier said that “the initiative responds to the needs of passengers who, in a recent market survey, expressed a growing interest in adopting these measures with increasing flight hours”.
Alitalia added that “this experimental phase will aim to evaluate the effectiveness and functionality of the new travel mode, with the aim of making it more widely available in view of the upcoming Summer 2021 season”.
The mandatory testing on Rome-New York flights builds on Alitalia’s trial of Covid-free flights between Rome and Milan earlier this year.
Fellow Skyteam members Delta and KLM recently announced plans for Covid-tested flights between Atlanta and Amsterdam, exempting customers from quarantine on arrival into the Netherlands.
Delta is also relaunching its Atlanta-Rome route as a “Covid-free” service later this month.
