United Airlines is launching a COVID-19 pilot testing program for travellers headed to Hawaii, starting October 15, 2020.

The program, a first for a U.S. airline, gives passengers travelling on United from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Hawaii the option to take a rapid test at the airport or a self-collected, mail-in test ahead of their trip. The carrier worked with the government of Hawaii to align the tests to meet the state’s requirements so passengers who test negative are not required to quarantine.

The rapid test at the airport will be administered by GoHealth Urgent Care and its partner Dignity Health. It will provide results in approximately 15 minutes and will be available to United passengers on the same day as their flight departing from SFO. The test costs $250 USD.

The mail-in test option will be administered by Color and cost $80 USD. It is recommended that customers initiate testing at least 10 days prior to their trip and provide their sample within 72 hours of their trip. Th

United Airlines currently offers more flights to Hawaii than any other major network carrier including daily service between San Francisco and Honolulu (HNL), Maui (OGG) and Kona (KOA). The carrier plans to increase service to Hawaii on October 15, including resuming service between San Francisco and Lihue (LIH) and additional flights between San Francisco and Maui and Kona.

“Our new COVID testing program is another way we are helping customers meet their destinations’ entry requirements, safely and conveniently,” said Toby Enqvist, chief customer officer, United. “We’ll look to quickly expand customer testing to other destinations and U.S. airports later this year to complement our state-of-the-art cleaning and safety measures that include a mandatory mask policy, antimicrobial and electrostatic spraying and our hospital-grade HEPA air filtration systems.”

“Convenient, widespread COVID-19 testing with fast and reliable results is critical to a return to normalcy and to accelerate the economic recovery,” said Caroline Savello, chief commercial officer, Color.