Heathrow: Government must act faster to protect jobs and unlock growth

HHeathrow: Government must act faster to protect jobs and unlock growth
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye
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Written by Harry Johnson

COVID-19 continues to weigh on travel demand, with a drop in passenger numbers of over 95% compared to the start of last year’s summer season.

UK government’s quarantine policy for international arrivals directly hit load factors, which immediately fell 10% following its introduction in early June. An exit plan is now more critical than ever, as long-haul flights remain grounded and more jobs continue to be put at risk in an industry crucial to rebuilding the UK economy.

Whilst steps toward travel corridors in July provide some hope for an initial recovery, further pace is needed to move past quarantine. Heathrow urges UK government to act faster on establishing Common International Standards that would allow safer travel to critical trading routes.

Heathrow stands ready to host the UK’s first pilot ‘Test-on-Arrival’ procedure from Collinson and Swissport. The pilot, which is subject to government approval, could allow COVID-negative passengers arriving from higher risk countries to enter the UK without the need to quarantine.

In addition, Heathrow is trialing a number of technologies and processes to keep the airport COVID-secure as travel resumes, including the existing temperature testing trials and exploring the use of UV sanitation to quickly and efficiently disinfect key touch-points in the passenger journey.

Whilst overall cargo tonnage in June was down by over 30% compared with 2019, Heathrow saw a record-breaking day for cargo-only flights on 6th June, with 140 movements in one day.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:

“Travel corridors were a great first step and now we need to go further to protect jobs and kickstart the economy, by allowing healthy passengers to travel freely between the UK and the rest of the world. We’re ready to pilot a testing system on arrival for passengers from “red” countries as an alternative to quarantine, but even better would be to test passengers before they get on a plane. This requires a Common International Standard for testing, which the UK government could take a global lead in setting up.”

 

Traffic Summary
June 2020

 

Terminal Passengers
(000s)
Jun 2020 % Change Jan to
Jun 2020
% Change Jul 2019 to
Jun 2020
% Change
Market
UK                20 -95.4              955 -58.9           3,470 -32.3
EU              151 -94.0           4,892 -62.8         19,199 -35.5
Non-EU Europe                26 -94.9           1,124 -59.3           4,054 -34.5
Africa                 9 -96.8              809 -53.3           2,590 -32.1
North America                46 -97.4           3,321 -62.7         13,247 -33.8
Latin America                 6 -94.8              320 -53.4           1,016 -31.9
Middle East                43 -92.9           1,728 -51.6           5,907 -28.8
Asia / Pacific                49 -94.9           2,283 -59.3           8,154 -35.1
Total              350 -95.2         15,433 -60.2         57,639 -34.0
Air Transport Movements  Jun 2020 % Change Jan to
Jun 2020
% Change Jul 2019 to
Jun 2020
% Change
Market
UK              242 -93.2           9,519 -50.8         30,888 -25.8
EU           1,840 -89.9         46,420 -55.4       151,639 -33.8
Non-EU Europe              413 -88.8         10,437 -52.5         32,018 -32.8
Africa              269 -77.6           4,156 -45.7         11,731 -28.6
North America           1,697 -76.8         21,988 -46.4         64,410 -28.4
Latin America              160 -67.9           1,670 -44.8           4,649 -30.0
Middle East              929 -63.4           9,368 -36.7         25,145 -23.5
Asia / Pacific           1,655 -56.9         13,836 -41.1         37,687 -27.1
Total           7,206 -82.3       117,516 -50.1       358,289 -30.6
Cargo
(Metric Tonnes)
Jun 2020 % Change Jan to
Jun 2020
% Change Jul 2019 to
Jun 2020
% Change
Market
UK                  7 -83.6              206 -27.9              507 -28.4
EU            5,251 -34.1          32,100 -32.2          79,123 -27.0
Non-EU Europe            4,278 -9.2          17,272 -38.9          46,017 -26.3
Africa            4,843 -37.9          31,190 -36.0          75,786 -25.9
North America          27,910 -38.7        201,979 -30.8        475,244 -26.9
Latin America            2,473 -43.0          14,952 -46.2          41,505 -31.5
Middle East          18,947 -16.7        102,033 -18.7        235,580 -15.0
Asia / Pacific          25,241 -33.4        150,463 -36.3        380,979 -29.5
Total          88,989 -31.8        552,550 -31.4     1,337,097 -25.8

#rebuildingtravel

About the author

Avatar of Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson

Harry Johnson has been the assignment editor for eTurboNews for mroe than 20 years. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is originally from Europe. He enjoys writing and covering the news.

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