Heathrow Airport called on the government to streamline the UK’s travel restrictions as it revealed that it has lost its top spot as Europe’s busiest airport because its rivals are recovering faster from the pandemic.
Britain’s biggest airport said passenger numbers in August were still down 71% compared with the same month in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From being the busiest airport in Europe in 2019, Heathrow is now 10th as rivals including Schiphol, Paris and Frankfurt are all recovering at a much quicker pace,” the airport said in a statement.
Passenger numbers fell 73% in the year to August 2021 from the previous year, while the January-August numbers were 57% lower than the same period of 2020.
The airport said complicated restrictions, expensive and unnecessary testing and the lack of a common approach were hindering the UK's economic recovery.
The government's Global Travel Taskforce is set to review the UK's travel regime in the coming weeks.
Heathrow called on the government to create a two-tier system - a green list and red list, retaining hotel quarantine.
“The current traffic light system is an outlier and is delaying the government's Global Britain ambitions, handing rivals a competitive advantage while the UK loses market share,” it said.
It said fully vaccinated travellers should not be required to take a test, while those not vaccinated should take lateral flow tests before departure and after arrival, as these are cheaper than the PCR test.
The airline also called on the Border Force to put in place measures to ensure that travellers did not have to wait for hours to be processed.
"If ministers fail to take this opportunity to streamline the travel rules then the UK will fall further behind as trade and tourists will increasingly by-pass the UK," said Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye.