**HISTORICAL**
Exciting news from the Hawaii State Governor today. They have announced new testing options that will allow Canadians to fly directly to Hawaii!
On October 15th the State of Hawaii started allowing visitors to present a pre-travel Covid test to avoid the mandatory 14 day quarantine. To be clear, this test must be taken no more than 72 hours prior to the last leg of your flight to Hawaii (if it’s a multi-leg flight). The catch is that you have to have the test done at one of the ‘trusted testing partners’. Originally these partners were only in US locations, then it was expanded to include Japanese partners. And now, ta-da, finally we have Canadian options, which are specifically through Air Canada and Westjet, the two Canadian airlines that fly to Hawaii.
Both Westjet and AirCanada will be posting all the information to their website in the coming days, so please do check there for details. Note, very importantly, please study the Hawaii Covid Travel website thoroughly to ensure you have the correct information (and note, it is in flux and changing – so check back). You will also need a Safe Travels account.
What about quarantine on return to Canada?
Yes, as Canadians know, there is currently a mandatory 14 day quarantine for all returning to Canada. There is however currently a pilot program at Calgary International Airport (YYC) which allows those returning to severely shorten the quarantine. Note, at this time the physical border between Canada and US is closed. Canadians may fly into the US, however under most circumstances Americans are not allowed to fly into Canada.
What countries are next?
The Governor just mentioned South Korea is in talks with the State of Hawaii to offer testing options also. New Zealand and Australia may be on the horizon, but per the governor, ‘the problem is, Hawaii is part of the United States and many countries have shut down travel to the United States’. So we’ll see what happens.