The idea of finally travelling overseas is obviously enticing but it’s sadly never been more expensive to do so in the time of COVID.

Mandatory travel insurance and COVID PCR tests are now a pricey requirement for leaving the country. It doesn’t have to be though – if you get your COVID test done at the airport just before flying rather than at a lab, you can save some much-needed cash for your holiday.

Express COVID PCR tests are available for just $79 at Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne International Airports, as per News.com.au. And they really mean it when they say ‘Express’ – results are guaranteed in under 90 minutes. Rapid antigen tests are also on offer for $59, with results in a breezy 30 minutes.

Compare this to the cost of getting tested at private labs in those cities, with prices starting around $140 and rising to a huge $300 if you need guaranteed results in less than 24 hours.

If you’re the type of traveller who likes to get to the airport as late as possible, basically when the gate is closing, the only downside is you’ll have to get there a long time before your flight. With Qantas recommending passengers for international flights get to the airport four hours early, we’re talking about a six-hour wait time if you include a COVID test.

And just a heads up – the airport testing clinics in Sydney and Melbourne open at 6am, while the Brisbane clinic opens later at 8am. So if you’re planning an early morning flight, you might be forced to go the lab beforehand.

The clinics are at those airports are operated by Histopath Diagnostic Specialists and they’ve reduced their prices only recently, with an express COVID PCR test setting people back $150 in October. According to their operations director Greg Granger, this is due to streamlining its processes. “We’ve been doing this since right at the start of the outbreak … and we’ve cut a lot of fat in between,” he told News.com.au.

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Granger continued: “For the same type of express service it can be $300 – that’s to get it the same day. That’s stupid, they’re not even trying.

Maybe they don’t have the efficiencies on the ground, but as long as the government is mandating testing, the private labs have an obligation to provide it as cheap as possible.”

For more on this topic, follow the Travel Observer.

See what it’s like to get a COVID test at an airport:

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