Heathrow has announced that 22.1 million passengers travelled through the airport during 2020, a fall of 72.7 per cent on the previous year.
In December, 1.1 million passengers travelled through Heathrow, down 82.9 per cent compared to the same time last year as a result of new lockdowns and restrictions brought in because of the new variant of Covid-19.
John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s chief executive officer, said, “The past year has been incredibly challenging for aviation. While we support tightening border controls temporarily by introducing pre-departure testing for international arrivals, as well as quarantine, this is not sustainable. The aviation industry is the cornerstone of the UK economy but is fighting for survival.
“We need a road map out of this lockdown, and a full waiver of business rates. This is an opportunity for the government to show leadership in creating a Common International Standard for pre-departure testing that will allow travel and trade to restart safely so that we can start to deliver the Prime Minister’s vision of a Global Britain.”
The airport has consolidated operations in terminals 2 and 5 and switched to single runway operations for most of the year.