The UK’s largest airport has today announced it has selected Cignpost ExpressTest as its new COVID-19 testing provider. The agreement will see Cignpost ExpressTest offer gold-standard COVID-19 testing to arriving and departing passengers at Heathrow Airport.

Passengers arriving at Heathrow from green list countries, will have the option to take their tests on arrival, to comply with the Government’s day 2 or earlier testing requirements. The airport’s passengers will also have the choice to make use of Cignpost ExpressTest’s regional sites across the country for both departure and arrivals testing, at the same reduced price, offering a number of convenient alternatives to the sites located at the airport. The service will provide all passengers with their PCR test results by 10 pm the following day.

The new arrangements are set to begin on 20th May, shortly after the restart of international travel, with testing facilities gradually being rolled out across all terminals and a number of the airport’s car parks. The airport-wide rollout is on track to be completed by August, when Cignpost ExpressTest will become the airport’s main testing provider.

The announcement builds upon an initial agreement between Heathrow and Cignpost ExpressTest which has been running successfully at the airport since December 2020.

Cignpost ExpressTest recently announced a major expansion, adding 10 new test centres to their offering, located across England, Scotland and Wales. The additional coverage ensures that 80% of the UK population are within a 1-hour drive of an ExpressTest site.

The market-leading testing provider offers gold-standard fit to fly COVID-19 tests from £59, and Lateral Flow Tests from £35. Alongside this, ExpressTest is also a selected provider to British Airways.
The agreement between Heathrow and Cignpost ExpressTest is expected to generate 800 jobs, with Cignpost working to recruit those made redundant throughout the Coronavirus pandemic.

Nick Markham, Co-Founder of Cignpost Diagnostics said: “We are incredibly proud to have been selected as the main testing provider to one of the world’s busiest airports. As lockdown restrictions ease to allow international travel to resume, everyone travelling abroad will want to know they can get an affordable test with the results delivered back to them within 24 hours. That is exactly what ExpressTest’s COVID-19 testing package with Heathrow Airport delivers.”

Professor Denis Kinane, Co-Founder of Cignpost Diagnostics said: “The return of international travel is crucial not just for the economic wellbeing of the industry, but the wider economy. Cignpost Diagnostics’ partnership with Heathrow Airport, will allow travellers to be 100% confident in the accuracy of our gold-standard COVID-19 tests and ensure that the return of travel is both safe and accessible to all.”

Heathrow Chief Operating Officer, Emma Gilthorpe, said: “We’re looking forward to working in closely with Cignpost ExpressTest. This new agreement will help to keep testing costs competitive for our passengers, which is vital for a safe and meaningful restart. Over the past year, we’ve seen tremendous progress made on testing and we will be working with Cignpost ExpressTest to build on this, by putting in place integrated and innovative solutions that keep our passengers and colleagues safe, in preparation for more countries being added to the green list.”