Advertisement

After $4 billion in losses, Heathrow says open up

A recovery at London's Heathrow has slipped behind other hubs in Europe.

Now the airport is urging Britain to open up travel to vaccinated passengers.

That after it reported a cumulative health crisis loss of $4 billion.

Before the travel sector was brought to its knees, Heathrow was Europe's busiest airport.

But it says Britain's restrictions were suppressing trade volumes and traveler demand.

The airport says passenger levels are about 20-25% of their pre-crisis levels.

While airports in the rest of Europe are already back to about 50%.

Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye told Reuters on Monday (July 26) that UK exports aren't getting out of the country.

Leaving it at risk of falling behind, with jobs being lost.

The airport wants Britain to allow fully vaccinated people from the United States and the European Union to be able to travel into Britain without needing to quarantine for 10 days.

For the whole of 2021, Heathrow forecast 21.5 million passengers would travel through its terminals.

That's a big jump from just 4 million in the first six months of the year, when it posted a loss of over a billion dollars.