‘Blue skies are on the horizon’ as Heathrow passenger traffic on the rise

Published on Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Heathrow Airport reported its busiest month since the early days of the Covid pandemic but remains just a fraction of normal levels.

The number of monthly passengers rose 74% to more than 1.5 million in July.

Still, it remains nearly 80% down on pre-pandemic passenger traffic.

Airport bosses once again called for the government to reopen travel to fully vaccinated people from more countries to help kick-start the economic recovery.

“Government must now capitalise on the vaccine dividend and replace expensive PCR tests with more affordable lateral flow tests. This will ensure travel remains attainable,” said Chief Operating Officer Emma Gilthorpe said.

There are now ‘finally some blue skies are on the horizon’ Gilthorpe added.

The further relaxation of travel restrictions since late June led to the increase in passengers with a spike in numbers from North America.

Heathrow expects further gains as US carrier JetBlue makes is long awaited transatlantic debut this week.

Fully vaccinated US travellers are now able to travel to the UK quarantine-free but the US hasn’t  extended the privilege to UK travellers in the opposite direction.