Air Canada has announced that it is working with Spartan Bioscience, an Ottawa-based biotechnology company, to deploy portable and quick COVID-19 tests.
Samuel Elfassy, Vice President, Safety at Air Canada, commented: “Air Canada’s strategy for managing COVID-19 has been to develop and apply multiple layers of biosafety measures for customers and employees. We believe the availability of a rapid, accurate, portable molecular test for COVID-19 will add yet another effective layer. We are excited by the potential and point of care use cases for the Spartan Cube, and look forward to working with the Spartan team in the weeks and months ahead.”
Air Canada says that Spartan is developing a proprietary swab for the collection of DNA samples for its COVID-19 test. Spartan’s test cartridge (reagents) and the Spartan Cube (portable DNA analyser device) remain subject to Health Canada approval.
“Spartan is excited to explore how our fast, portable testing technology can help keep Air Canada employees and the travelling public safe as Canada’s economy re-opens,” said Nick Noreau, Spartan Bioscience’s Chief Revenue Officer.
Air Canada was among the first airline carriers to require face coverings onboard and was the first airline in the continent to take customers’ temperatures before boarding.
In May the airline introduced a programme, Air Canada CleanCare+, to apply biosafety measures at each stage of the customer’s journey.
The circumstances surrounding COVID-19 are continuously evolving. Our friends at APEX have a dedicated COVID-19 page, which they’ll be updating regularly to help keep you up-to-date on how the novel coronavirus is impacting the aviation industry. Visit the page for the very latest news >>
