The move is justified by the success of tests for arrivals, rolled out at the beginning of September, which in addition to curbing the virus entering the country, have the effect of cutting down quarantine times for individuals who return negative, the airport's commercial director Eero Pärgmäe said.

The same principle would apply in reverse when leaving Estonia, Pärgmäe said, noting that it is already in use at London Heathrow, initially for travelers heading for Hong Kong and also Italian airports.

"Testing before leaving on a trip could be a very positive thing and would give people confidence that mixing with people at an airport and on board a plane, that they had tested negative," Pärgmäe said.

"At first, testing should be applied to those direct flights where the destination country itself requires a negative test result [for entry]," he added.

The time-frame for initiating departures testing would partly depend on Estonia's private sector partners, he added.

Testing at Heathrow currently requires a pre-booking and costs £80, ERR's online news in Estonian reports.

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