Fliers rue costly RT-PCR, chaos at Mumbai airport

Arriving passengers at Mumbai airport on Monday. Pic/Sameer Markande

Amid frustration among few fliers over RT-PCR tests at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, authorities have said that there are adequate arrangements and manpower in place to tackle the load. High cost of the rapid test has also upset some passengers.

"Request you to reduce the rates of RTPCR at mumbai international airport it is so high for international travel. It is very very high i am shocked only you can reduce the rates drastically i think govt should reduce upto 60 per cent . Please look into it [sic]," tweeted a user named Ron Shah.

Earlier, passengers had posted pictures of passengers waiting in long queues for COVID testing at Delhi airport. Similar complaints were made by travellers at Chennai airport too. The government has upped COVID surveillance at airports amid fears over Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.

A source from Mumbai airport said the facility sees a few international flights during the daytime and that they have sufficient number of booths for rapid and regular RT-PCR tests.

"Between 11.30 pm and 4-4.30 am, the number of international flights landing at CSMIA is high and this is when the passenger load is high and sometimes there is a crowd to do rapid and regular RT-PCR tests but it cannot be termed as chaos. Also, there is adequate staff and there is an arrangements made for passengers to sit after doing the test," said the source.

At Mumbai airport, a rapid RT-PCR test costs Rs 3,900 - one gets the result in 30 minutes. For the regular test, in which the result is out in 6-8 hours, the cost is Rs 600.

6 to 8 hrs
Time taken for results of the regular RT-PCR test

30 mins
Time taken for results of the rapid RT-PCR test