In a sign of the times and providing a glimpse of the future of air travel, Brussels Airport is the latest facility to open a COVID-19 test centre designed to provide travellers with ease of access to a PCR test directly at the airport with same-day results available digitally.

Operated by Ecolog Deutschland and Eurofins Labo Van Poucke, the Test Centre is part of a growing concept by airports around the world to minimize quarantine periods and to reduce the potential risk of further spread.

Ecolog opened several similar facilities in Bavaria (including Munich) and the Netherlands in August and is adding sites throughout Europe.

Ecolog says its mobile testing facilities are aimed at supporting governments, airports, and airlines, in their efforts to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic successfully and safely through detecting positive cases and breaking the infection cycle.

In Brussels, passengers arriving from red zones who have completed a Passenger Location Form and received a 16-digit SMS code can perform a PCR test free of charge at the test facility, with payment directly settled by Belgian national insurance.

By October, testing services will be extended to all arrivals with the utilization of a mobile laboratory on site and passengers able to register for a standard PCR test with same-day results or a rapid PCR test delivering a test result within three hours.

“We took the initiative to put up a test centre at the airport to further strengthen our sanitary measures against the spread of COVID-19 and thus contribute to protecting public health,” said Brussels Airport Company CEO Arnaud Feist. “The test results will be rapidly communicated to the passengers. Testing is an essential element to allow the aviation industry, and the economy in general, to gradually get out of the current crisis without compromising the health and safety of the public.”