Airlines look to antigen tests as pandemic fix

• Talk about the Holy Grail in seeing airline traffic return to pre-pandemic levels. Lufthansa (OTCQX:DLAKF) is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY) over deploying so-called antigen tests, sources tip Reuters. The airline is looking to make the tests available as early as next month.
• The tests would be administered by health authorities at airports and included in ticket prices. Antigen tests can produce results in 15 minutes, but have generated more "false positives" in general and only detect the virus about 80% to 90% of the time vs. the 95% mark seen in labs on average. Still, the use of antigen tests at airports could coax more reluctant travelers back onto planes.
• Sector watch: American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL), JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ:HA), Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK), Allegiant Travel (NASDAQ:ALGT), Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE), Mesa Airlines (NASDAQ:MESA), SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW)
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