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Portland International Jetport Director Paul Bradbury says the addition of onsite COVID-19 testing could be a draw for Maine's largest airport.
November 9, 2020
Portland Jetport is one of the 'very early' ones to launch onsite COVID-19 testing
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Breeze Airways low-fare airline is introducing service at Portland International Jetport this spring.
By William Hall
Starting Monday, travelers to Portland International Jetport can learn whether they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 almost as soon as they’ve stepped off a plane.
With backing from the state, the jetport today is launching an onsite coronavirus test service, which offers the public free testing with results delivered in three days. A rapid test, with a one-hour turnaround time, is available for $25.
Both tests are available to anyone — whether or not a traveler, whether or not from Maine — and don’t require referral from a health care provider. Reservations, however, are necessary, and can be completed online. Testing is available on the ground level of the jetport terminal, from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., seven days a week.
The rapid test uses the Abbott Laboratories ID NOW molecular test, which is manufactured in Scarborough. The three-day test uses “PCR” (polymerase chain reaction) technology, and is analyzed by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory in Augusta.
Three-day testing will also be launched this week at the Downtown Auburn Transportation Center. Both managed by Falmouth-based Promerica Health LLC, the two travel-focused sites are among more than 15 “swab and send” facilities being introduced throughout Maine by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.
“We’re so pleased and excited to be working with the state on the test service,” Jetport Director Paul Bradbury told Mainebiz on Monday morning. “We see this as a next phase in customer service.”
Currently, only a dozen airports throughout the U.S. offer COVID-19 testing onsite, according to Afar, a travel magazine. At large ones such as New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, the service can run $75 for a PCR test to $200 for rapid screening.
“We’re one of the very early ones,” said Bradbury, who explained that the service may be a draw for some out-of-state travelers. Under state health restrictions, visitors to Maine must test negative for COVID-19 within three days of arrival, or instead quarantine for two weeks. (The requirement currently does not apply to travelers from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.)
But Bradbury stressed the new testing option is still just that, an option. “There’s no pushing travelers to use this service. Everyone has unique circumstances.
“It’s another opportunity for them to get testing,” he said. Ideally, it will allow a more seamless experience for travelers, he added, so they don’t have to rely on a “patchwork quilt” of testing services after touching down.
That convenience may be a help at the jetport, where the pace of travel is off more than 60% from typical years as a result of the pandemic. PWM recorded about 70,000 travelers in September, compared to 220,000 in September 2019.
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