Passenger numbers at Heathrow have continued to fall owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Monthly passenger numbers have dipped below 500,000 last month, the lowest since 1966. The airport has confirmed that the decline is mainly due to travel bans, blanket quarantines, pre-departure and post-arrival testing.

Numbers at Heathrow are down by 91 percent as compared to last year

Only 461,000 passengers made a trip from Heathrow, down 91 per cent from last year. A limit on passenger flights which normally carry freight have led to cargo volumes remaining 30 per cent down on an annual basis. Contrastingly, other airports in the EU including Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol airports have successfully managed to return to pre-Covid cargo tonnage levels.

Heathrow chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said: “Aviation has always led the UK economy out of recession, and we will do so again. The global travel taskforce can lead the way on reopening international travel and trade safely – but ministers must get a grip of Border Force’s performance so that visitors get a warm welcome to Britain, not a six-hour queue.”

Also Read: HKTB Announces Long-Term Strategy To Boost Tourism