Peach Aviation is introducing free Covid-19 testing for domestic passengers departing Tokyo and Osaka from February 21 to March 31.
Travellers departing from Osaka Kansai and Tokyo Narita airports on the Japanese low-cost carrier will be eligible to redeem a saliva-based PCR test kit. Requests must be made at least ten days before departure and no later than March 21, reported the Mainichi.
The PCR test will need to be sent and received by biotech company SS Dnaform at least three days prior to departure.
Travellers will then be notified of their results by email, with the option of flight changes or credit if the test comes back positive, according to Peach Aviation’s Japanese website.
“We’d like to guarantee that our flights are safe and strive to revitalise regional economies,” a Peach Aviation spokesperson told The Mainichi.
The new offering comes as daily Covid-19 cases in the world’s third largest economy fall below one thousand cases for the first time since November, reported the Japan Times.
Domestic carriers significantly scaled back flights during the last surge.
Earlier, flag carrier Japan Airlines announced it would operate 52 per cent of its normal domestic schedule this month. Meanwhile, All Nippon Airways, the country’s largest airline, said it would fly just 55 per cent of its normal schedule, according to analytics company CAPA Centre for Aviation.
