MONTREAL — Air Canada has announced what it calls the industry’s most comprehensive travel testing options in partnership with Switch Health, including portable self-administered COVID-19 molecular and antigen test kits for passengers.

Air Canada passengers can travel with the kit and test themselves while abroad prior to their flight to Canada to meet federal government testing requirements without the need to visit a foreign COVID-19 testing clinic.

Other options also include a portable self-administered Antigen Test Kit which is accepted by many countries such as the U.S.

The tests are conducted under the remote supervision of  a Telehealth professional from Switch Health and include an electronic report suitable for travel.

The tests don’t require any lab processing and the results are received in under 45 minutes with an official electronic report suitable for travel.

Air Canada is Switch Health’s launch partner for these new tests, with limited quantities initially available for Aeroplan members.

The news comes on the heels of the lifting of Canada’s travel advisory and the federal government’s vaccine passport certification for international travel. The federal government currently requires travellers arriving in and returning to Canada to present a negative molecular test taken within 72 hours of their flight.

While last week’s lifting of the travel advisory was cheered by the industry, there has been concern that Canada’s PCR test requirement for all returning passengers could cause travel’s recovery to lag.

The testing kit options, including the Switch Health COVID-19 RT-LAMP Kit, make travelling abroad easier and more predictable until such time as the testing requirements evolve, says Air Canada. Switch Health is a Canadian-based healthcare company.

“Air Canada is a leader in adopting and implementing science-based safety measures to simplify  our customers’ journey,” says Mark Nasr, Senior Vice President, Products Marketing &  eCommerce at Air Canada.

“Together with Switch Health, we are pleased to offer our customers the most comprehensive range of travel testing options that will make travelling abroad easier  and more predictable. Switch Health also seamlessly integrates into Air Canada’s digital tool  allowing customers to securely submit their COVID-19 test results and records of vaccination,  further simplifying the travel experience,” he added.

Aeroplan members will have exclusive access to preferred pricing on all Switch Health testing products. Aeroplan preferred pricing for the portable Antigen test kit start at $79 plus applicable taxes (one kit includes two tests), and the portable RT-LAMP test kit start at $149 plus applicable taxes.

Members also earn 1,000 Aeroplan points on RT-PCR tests and 500 Aeroplan points on RT-LAMP Test Kits and Antigen Tests. Aeroplan is free to join.

Customers can visit aircanada.com/switchhealth for all the details or order a test kit at  switchhealth.ca/aeroplan or redeem at aircanada.com/estore.