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Heathrow’s plea for Covid testing as traffic remains 88% down YOY
Heathrow bosses have repeated their plea to the government to introduce Covid-19 tests at UK airports after reporting a 88% drop in traffic at the airport during July.
They’re blaming the government’s mandatory quarantine for arrivals from key overseas destinations for the fact that 60% of the airport’s routes remain grounded.
More than half of the 480,000 passengers who flew from Heathrow in July were travelling to European summer holiday destinations to where the UK has opened quarantine-free ‘travel corridors’.
However, 40% of flights, mainly to long-haul and predominantly business destinations, remain grounded.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: "Tens of thousands of jobs are being lost because Britain remains cut off from critical markets such as the US, Canada and Singapore.
"The government can save jobs by introducing testing to cut quarantine from higher risk countries, while keeping the public safe from a second wave of Covid."
Holland-Kaye has suggested passengers are tested twice, once on arrival and again five to eight days later to ensure those who have the virus are detected.
Heathrow has claimed it could have testing in place by early next month, but ministers have so far rejected calls to introduce Covid-19 tests at UK airports to replace its quarantine rules, claiming that a mandatory 14-day self-isolation for arrivals from higher-risk countries is a better way to prevent the virus spreading.
By Linsey McNeill, Editor (UK)
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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