Heathrow Airport has called on the UK
government to add the US to its green list of destinations when it reveals the
result of its latest international travel review on 7 June.
The airport said in a statement, “Since the initial restart of
international travel on 17 May, rapid progress has been made with the global
vaccine rollout, especially in the US where the vaccination rate is fast
catching up to the UK’s. This progress, alongside testing and the Government’s
own risk-based controls, allows for links to be safely restored to more of the
UK’s low risk key trading partners, unleashing the huge economic contribution
of these visitors, while protecting the gains made in the fight against this
virus."
The airport, which this weekend celebrated its 75th anniversary as a commercial airport, says that research by CEBR shows
that US business and leisure travellers spend a combined £3.74 billion, around
a quarter of the total visitor spend, in the UK economy. Routes from the US to
Heathrow accounted for 21 million passengers in 2019.
Heathrow CEO, John
Holland-Kaye, said: “This research shows just how many businesses across the UK
are losing out because of the Government’s restrictions on access to overseas
visitors and markets. The Government has the tools to protect both public
health and the economy and Ministers must unlock more low risk
destinations across Europe, as well as the US, as part of the
next review on 7 June.”
From today, passengers arriving in Heathrow
from a red-list destination – those countries with the highest rates of Covid or where variants of concern are spreading – will be handled at terminal 3 to avoid mixing of passengers from
other destinations. These arrivals will eventually be moved to terminal 4.