Thursday, August 12, 2021
Heathrow Airport has made a plea to the US to lift its travel restrictions on the UK with passenger traffic 80% lower than what it was before the pandemic.
The airport said that in July, over 1.5 million travellers passed through the travel hub. The busiest month since lockdown commenced from March 2020. The airport authority also warned that overall numbers were still far below in contrast to pre-pandemic levels.
Heathrow Airport authority also called for travel RT-PCR tests to be done away with and be replaced with cheaper lateral flow tests to broaden travel opportunities. Heathrow, the busiest European airport in, sought help from the government to travel return to close to 2019 levels.
The figures do not yet reflect UK’s decision last month to allow fully vaccinated people from the U.S. and E.U. to the U.K., without a need to quarantine themselves which possibly may lead to a significant increase in the passenger traffic. The leniency in restrictions is one way and however, the US continues to ban passengers entering from the UK in the last months.
The U.S. government has suffered stark criticism by Heathrow Airport and British Airways for not relaxing travel curbs promptly enough despite its fast vaccination roll-out and for its complicated regulations which include expensive Covid-19 tests.
Last month, the government allowed fully vaccinated Britons to travel to moderately infected countries without needing to isolate on return. The decision boosted passenger traffic by 74% than what it was in July last year.
North American passenger traffic increased by close to 230% on July 2029 and New York’s JFK airport reclaimed the top spot as Heathrow’s most popular route as states by the airport.
Emma Gilthorpe, the CEO of Heathrow said with the reopening of various travel routes there is finally some blue skies on the horizon.
Tags: Airline News, Covid-19
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