The UK's biggest airport has reported a rising demand for travel with its first three months of passenger growth since before the start of the pandemic - but it is still operating at less than half of 2019 levels.
Heathrow Airport experienced its first full quarter of passenger growth since 2019, as travel restrictions were eased and testing requirements simplified. Passenger numbers in the third quarter of the year recovered to 28 per cent, and cargo to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels with traffic is not expected to fully recover until at least 2026.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “It’s definitely been a tough 18 months but we are starting to see the recovery coming through.
"Now all we need to see is stability in the travel rules, so people are confident of what we need to do and the airlines can build it into their systems.
“We are hiring people right now to make sure that across the airport we can meet the demand that is starting to come through.
“We’re still at around 40 to 45 per cent of the levels even on the busiest days of where we were back in 2019, so we are all working together to make sure we can give people a fantastic service at Heathrow.”
Mr Holland-Kaye added: “We are on the cusp of a recovery which will unleash pent-up demand, create new quality jobs and see Britain’s trade roar back to life – but it risks a hard landing unless secured for the long-haul.
"To do that, we need continued focus on the global vaccination programme so that borders can reopen without testing."
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