Airport hit with £2bn loss
HEATHROW ANNOUNCES THE FULL COST OF LOCKDOWN AND TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC –
HEATHROW Airport bosses have called for urgent support to be given to the aviation industry after recording a huge annual loss for the last year.
The airport suffered a £2 billion pre-tax loss for 2020 as passengers numbers fell sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, falling from 80.9 million in 2019 to 22.1 million last year.
Most of those passengers came through the airport in January and February before the first lockdown, bosses said.
In 2019 Heathrow made a pre-tax profit of £546 million.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak was set to deliver measures to support the troubled aviation industry in the budget as this paper went to press, and Heathrow bosses have asked for full business rates relief, an extension to the furlough scheme and the opportunity to bring back VAT-free shopping for tourists.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “2020 has been one of our most challenging years – but despite £2billion of losses and shrinking to passenger levels we haven’t seen since the 70s, I am hugely proud of the way that our colleagues have kept our passengers safe and the UK’s hub airport open for vital supplies throughout.
“We can be hopeful for 2021, with Britain on the cusp of becoming the first country in the world to safely resume international travel.
“Getting aviation moving again will save thousands of jobs and reinvigorate the economy, and Heathrow
will be working with the Global Travel Taskforce to develop a robust plan underpinned by science and backed by industry.”
New tougher international travel rules were introduced in the UK earlier this month to help curb the threat of new coronavirus variants.
Anyone who enters England, having visited or passed through a country where travel to the UK is banned, in the last 10 days, must quarantine in a hotel for a period of 10 days.
They must also follow national lockdown rules and take a coronavirus test within their first two days of quarantine and within their last three days.
Heathrow and Gatwick Airport are among the five UK airports which have been welcoming those passengers.
Speaking on Monday (February 22), Boris Johnson announced that a taskforce would work with the travel sector, including airports and airlines, to make recommendations aimed at allowing international air travel to resume.
The taskforce will report to the Prime Minister by Monday April 12.
MORE than 6,000 people have backed a campaign to protect a much-loved meadow and its habitats by granting it Local Nature Reserve (LNR) status.
A petition circulating online calls for urgent action to stop Warren Farm Nature Reserve and its surrounding spaces by the River Brent being lost to future development.
The 61-acre green space in Norwood Green was earmarked for a new training ground for Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club, but after a near decade-long battle with local opposition groups, the plan fell through last year.
Campaigners say over the years after the field stopped being used for sports, the meadow has become a “unique urban grassland” with rare and endangered species such as the skylark making it their home.
They say it is home to a host of animals and plants including yarrow pugs, yellow-necked mice, little owls, barn owls, wrynecks, ancient oak trees, rare clovers, slow-worms, toads and bats.
The bid to grant Warren Farm statutory LNR designation, which is in the power of local authorities, was the proposal of the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS).
Its members believe the surrounding green spaces around Warren Farm, including the Jubilee Meadow, Trumper’s Field, Blackberry Corner and Fox Meadow, should be brought together to form a large LNR with Warren Farm at the centre.
In its first week of the campaign going live in January, the petition gained 3,000 signatures, which had more than doubled by the end of February.
Campaign organiser and BRCS trustee Katie Boyles said: “The Wildlife Trust has called on the government to create ‘wildbelt’ land across urban areas of Britain – land specifically designated for nature recovery.
“We don’t need to look far in Ealing because we can do just this at Warren Farm.
“With only 2% of wildflower meadows left in the UK, it is crucial that these meadow habitats are safeguarded from future development.”
“The Covid crisis has shown us the importance of access to nature, improving our health and wellbeing. We are also facing a climate emergency and with the UK being ranked as one of the most naturedepleted countries in the world, there has never been a more crucial time to protect sites such as Warren Farm.”
Since the launch, the cause has also secured further support from the Ramblers Association West London Group which has nearly 500 members, mainly made up of Ealing residents who walk through these “precious urban meadows.”
BRCS trustee Phil Belman added: “Our expert surveys have provided overwhelming evidence to justify the Statutory Local Nature Reserve designation.”
“BRCS offers our support, experience and expertise to assist council officers to achieve this vision and we stand ready to work in partnership with Ealing Council and all others who sign up to it.”
It is understood Ealing Council voted more than a decade ago to seek LNR status for the surrounding meadows but has yet to complete the work. The campaign wants to extend this commitment to the wider area including Warren Farm’s abandoned sports field.
Despite QPR’s ambition falling short of bringing the field back into use, Ealing Council leader Julian Bell said the authority has not abandoned plans to install a sports ground.
Speaking after the QPR announcement in May 2020, Cllr Bell said: “Warren Farm has always been a playing field and our ambition to develop first-class sporting facilities for the borough’s young people remains unchanged. We will be looking at how this can be funded once the Covid-19 emergency is over.”