The CEO of Heathrow has written to UK prime minister Boris Johnson to call for the immediate and unilateral introduction of pre-departure testing after the introduction of tier 4 restrictions effectively stopped international travel out of the airport.
John Holland-Kaye has said in the letter that while he supported steps to contain the new strain of Covid that led to the introduction of a fourth tier, “the dramatic deterioration of the situation means that the government must not delay any longer”.
“Like many countries around the world which require pre-departure tests for aviation, the UK needs to quickly and unilaterally introduce this model, to demonstrate to the world it is serious about protecting their borders as much its own.”
Holland-Kaye said that the government should introduce a scheme requiring a negative PCR test less than 72 hours ahead of departure with a second, rapid test taken at the airport.
“This should be an extraordinary measure until the travel bans have been relaxed, at which point the risk-based approach to international connections with key trading markets should be resumed, with pre-departure testing in place for ‘high risk’ countries,” he wrote.
The airport boss also said that the government must restart work on the next steps for testing in aviation, following the launch of a test to release scheme last week, which allows arrivals to cut quarantine from ten to five days.
Holland-Kaye wrote, “Whilst test to release is a good start it is not a long-term solution to meaningfully help aviation recover – that will require industry and government to continue to work together on new procedures and protocols. We stand ready to play our part in this but your government must take an urgent lead.”
He added: “The decision to restrict international travel again will further damage the national economy and jeopardise jobs at a time when the UK is looking to rebuild and increase links with the rest of the world after Brexit.”