Heathrow Airport called on the government to remove COVID-19 testing for fully-vaccinated passenger after traffic numbers continued to fall and people cancelled travel plans last year.
The airport operator recorded 19.4mln passengers in 2021, less than a quarter of the levels seen in pre-pandemic 2019 and down 12.3% on 2020, as COVID-19 continued to batter the travel industry.
In a statement, Heathrow said at least 600,000 passengers cancelled their travel plans in December of last year, following concerns over the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus and uncertainty caused by “swiftly imposed government travel restrictions”.
Flight numbers were down 5.4% on 2020.
Heathrow warned that aviation is in for a long-haul recovery unless passengers can be confident that travel restrictions, once removed, will not return rapidly.
“There is significant doubt over the speed at which demand will recover,” it said, noting that IATA forecasts suggest passenger numbers will not reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025.
It said testing for fully-vaccinated people should be dropped immediately and that quarantine should be allowed at home for any future variants of coronavirus.
"There are currently travel restrictions, such as testing, on all Heathrow routes - the aviation industry will only fully recover when these are all lifted and there is no risk that they will be reimposed at short notice, a situation which is likely to be years away,” said Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye.
“While this creates enormous uncertainty for the CAA in setting a new 5-year regulatory settlement, it means the regulator must focus on an outcome that improves service, incentivises growth and maintains affordable private financing."