Last month, at least 600,000 people canceled flights from Heathrow Airport when the Omicron coronavirus strain prompted tighter travel restrictions.
Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said it highlighted the industry’s problems and the unpredictability that travelers face.
The chief executive of the UK’s busiest airport cautioned that a return to normal “may be years away.” In 2021, only 19.4 million passengers traveled through Heathrow, down 12.3% from 2020, when the pandemic began.
Last year’s number was less than a fourth of the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019, which was the lowest for Heathrow in 50 years. Mr. Holland-Kaye believes that all coronavirus testing for fully vaccinated patients should be discontinued.
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Due to concerns about the Omicron Covid strain, all visitors arriving in the UK were forced to do a pre-departure lateral flow test and self-isolate until they had a negative result from a post-arrival PCR test starting in late November. Consequently, many people canceled their travel plans over the holiday season.
The new limits were lifted for fully-vaccinated newcomers last week after travel firms argued they were ineffectual due to Omicron spreading broadly inside the UK. According to airlines, this action resulted in a surge in bookings.
“There are presently travel restrictions, such as testing, on all Heathrow lines – the aviation sector will only truly recover when they are all lifted and there is no possibility of them being re-imposed at short notice, which is unlikely to happen for years,” Mr. Holland-Kaye added.
He cautioned that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the aviation regulator, faces “enormous uncertainty” as it prepares to put a five-year maximum on Heathrow’s passenger charges. The CAA raised the price per passenger ceiling at Heathrow from £19.60 to £30.19 on January 1, causing airlines to complain that the increase was far too high. In the next few weeks, the CAA is likely to publish a long-term cap that will last until 2027.
Heathrow reported that travel to and from the Asia-Pacific area was particularly hard hit in 2021, with a 40.3 percent drop from the previous year.
Non-EU Europe (down 13.8 percent) and North America were the only other markets with double-digit declines (down 13.6 percent ).
Domestic travel defied the trend, with a 21.1 percent increase in passengers in 2020 compared to the previous year.