Aena will launch the service in airports with the highest volume of international flights, or serving Spain's key tourism hubs, such as Malaga and Seville on the Costa del Sol, the Balearic Islands' Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca airports, as well as the Canary Islands' four main airports.
The testing clinics will be set up for an initial six-month period, although the contracts - signed primarily with laboratory testing and diagnostics company Eurofins - can be extended until the end of 2021.
"The clinics will be in departure lounges... (for) passengers who will need (tests) in their destination airports, not for those who land in our airports, who will need to bring their tests from their places of origin to pass the health controls in place since May across our network," the company said in a statement.
The state-owned operator said it hoped the new service would facilitate tourism, as continued restrictions on mobility hurt the industry, which is vital to Spain's economy.
Over 2020, a year in which global travel was dramatically curtailed, tourism accounted for just 4%-5% of Spain's GDP, according to estimates from Funcas analyst Maria Jesus Fernandez. That compares with a 12% share in 2019.
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Did the testing ever get set up???? I need a Rapid Test no older than 4 hours before I board to Amsterdam in a week, and it's an overnight layover in BCN where I won't be allowed to cross the border and get tested in the city. I have to be able to get tested in the airside terminal.
Maybe this will help, if the type of tests, speed, and price work with countries adopting testing before arrival schemes at least. About time as well, after AENA spent the last 10 months refusing to get involved with testing.