Heathrow moves from top spot to the 16th busiest Europe airport
LOCKDOWN TAKES ITS TOLL ON THE UK’S NUMBER ONE HUB
THE Government’s raft of strict Covid travel requirements might have permanently damaged the tourism industry, warned Heathrow bosses.
In 2019, the London airport had a record 80.9 million passengers, but this has now fallen by 80.5%, according to the latest data from the Airports Council International.
This puts Heathrow, formerly Europe’s most popular transport hub, in 16th place.
It lags behind other major airports such as Charles De Gaulle in Paris, Amsterdam’s Schiphol, Frankfurt International, while even smaller airports in Turkey and Russia have higher passenger numbers.
The UK travel industry has already lost 100,000 jobs due to restrictions and reduced flight numbers.
The recent loosening of restrictions, including allowing fully vaccinated people to avoid costly PCR tests, moving tourist hotspots to lower-risk bands and widening which countries’ vaccines are officially recognised was called “a shot in the arm for the travel industry” by travel agent Thomas Cook.
However, Martin Chalk, acting general secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association, said: “There is still a way to go before UK aviation can truly take off again and the industry remains precariously placed after a dire summer season.”
The UK’s travel recovery is lagging more so than other countries.
Across Europe, flights were back to 71% of 2019 levels, according to Eurocontrol, an international organisation promoting safe traffic management.
In the UK, this was only 51%, compared to 81% in Greece, 78% in Turkey, 76% in Italy and 71% in France.
Germany, Norway, and Spain too have seen better recovery than the UK.
Furlough is set to end on September 30, with large numbers of employees in the travel industry reliant on the scheme.
The issues for holidaymakers may begin if airlines decide to pass the cost of supporting staff onto the consumer. If the airline industry contracts, it means fewer flights and likely higher costs.