Closing the Covid Chapter at BNE

Brisbane Airport’s final Covid-19 testing clinic will close today marking a symbolic end to the pandemic which has disrupted domestic and international travel over the past three years.
 
4Cyte will shut its clinic at the International Terminal at 6pm. Histopath closed its Brisbane Airport clinic last Friday.  Combined, both operators tested 147,244 passengers at Brisbane Airport over the past 18 months.
 
It follows the end of testing requirements in our most popular overseas destinations and this week’s announcement by the World Health Organization that COVID-19 no longer represents a global health emergency.
 
"The closure of the clinics and removal of the testing signs draws a line in the sand and marks the end of the Covid chapter at Brisbane Airport," according to Stephen Beckett, head of Public Affairs at Brisbane Airport Corporation.
 
"The opening of airport testing sites was crucial to the re-start of interstate and overseas travel and we’re grateful for the role testing played in keeping us safe and getting us moving. But now we celebrate the fact that global travel is back and with it the jobs and opportunities travel delivers to Queensland."
 
Across the 18 months testing styles varied from PCR to RATS, with April 2022 being the busiest period for clinics, when travel burst back to life around the Easter holidays. 
 
In April of this year, China ended its requirement for testing, which accounted for 90% of testing demand. Since then, the numbers of passengers using the facilities has steadily declined.
 
While a small number of countries continue to require testing for entry, particularly for those who are unvaccinated, travellers will need to plan to have this completed before coming to Brisbane Airport.
 
You can discover your nearest testing location by clicking here.
 
Once the testing clinics have vacated their space at Brisbane’s International Terminal, the offices will be used by airlines which continue to expand services to BNE.
 
Upcoming new flights

• 8 June – Air Vanuatu resumes flights to the Pacific paradise of Espiritu Santo
• 16 June – Vietjet begins the first non-stop flights from Vietnam to Brisbane
• 01 December – United Airlines Los Angeles to Brisbane commences

Brisbane is now connected to 26 international destinations. During the darkest days of the pandemic, there were days of zero passenger arrivals through the International Terminal. 
 
Greg Granger, Director of Strategic Operations from Histopath Diagnostic Services:
 
"When Australia re-opened its borders in November 2021, strong pre-departure testing mandates were enforced by airlines and destination countries. The same mandates were also enforced for interstate borders, resulting in private pathology services serving as the final gatekeepers to domestic and international travel.  We would like to thank the passengers and airlines that have used our service these past few years, and to Brisbane Airport Corporation for ensuring that the barriers to travel were addressed for the community."
 
David Kajzer, 4Cyte Pathology, Queensland State Manager:  
 
"4Cyte Pathology was proud to be the first laboratory in Australia to be accredited to perform rapid COVID PCR and RAT testing at an airport and work with the broader team at Brisbane Airport to provide this necessary testing service during the truly unprecedented times that we experienced."