Heathrow urges Ministers to reunite families for Christmas picture

Heathrow urges Ministers to reunite families for Christmas

10 December, 2021

Heathrow urges Ministers to reunite families for Christmas

 

  • New Government-imposed travel restrictions further dampen passenger confidence as demand down by 60% on pre-pandemic levels, despite the US reopening earlier in the month
  • High level of cancellations by business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas because of pre-departure testing shows the potential harm to the economy of travel restrictions
  • Heathrow urges Ministers to reduce restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so and to allow UK nationals from red list countries to isolate at home so that they can be reunited with loved ones for Christmas
  • If the Government signals that aviation could restart soon, that will give employers at Heathrow the confidence to start recruiting and training thousands of people from the local community ahead of next summer
  • Heathrow forecasts a slow start to 2022, finishing next year with around 45 million passengers – only just over half of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels. This aligns closely with the forecast published by the CAA in its Initial Proposals, and that of the airlines’ international trade body, IATA, which predicts global passenger numbers in 2022 will be about 60% of 2019 levels
  • We do not expect that international travel will recover to 2019 levels until at least all travel restrictions (including testing) are removed from all the markets that we serve, at both ends of the route, and there is no risk of new restrictions, such as quarantine, being imposed. This is likely to be several years away

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:

“By allowing Brits to isolate at home, Ministers can make sure they are reunited with their loved ones this Christmas.  It would send a strong signal that restrictions on travel will be removed as soon as safely possible to give passengers the confidence to book for 2022, opening up thousands of new jobs for local people at Heathrow.  Let’s reunite families for Christmas.”

 

Traffic Summary

     
       

November 2021

     
       

Terminal Passengers
(000s)

Nov 2021

% Change

Jan to
Nov 2021

% Change

Dec 2020 to
Nov 2021

% Change

Market

      

UK

257

347.1

1,542

12.0

1,625

-8.4

EU

1,059

341.4

6,443

-16.4

6,791

-31.1

Non-EU Europe

242

258.0

1,325

-22.2

1,406

-35.3

Africa

151

138.4

873

-16.1

981

-27.4

North America

649

693.7

2,539

-32.1

2,664

-49.6

Latin America

58

192.4

297

-23.6

339

-32.9

Middle East

403

289.5

1,817

-18.8

2,043

-31.5

Asia / Pacific

247

117.4

1,435

-48.4

1,566

-58.0

Total

3,066

310.4

16,272

-22.4

17,415

-37.0

       
       

Air Transport Movements

Nov 2021

% Change

Jan to
Nov 2021

% Change

Dec 2020 to
Nov 2021

% Change

Market

      

UK

2,232

223.5

15,096

6.5

16,089

-8.4

EU

9,613

201.3

62,767

-20.3

66,353

-30.1

Non-EU Europe

2,191

188.3

12,331

-23.6

13,122

-33.4

Africa

824

38.3

6,880

2.7

7,638

-5.2

North America

4,132

76.1

30,214

-6.8

32,498

-17.0

Latin America

392

59.3

2,548

-3.6

2,868

-8.6

Middle East

1,814

40.2

15,041

-0.6

16,543

-7.0

Asia / Pacific

2,390

6.6

20,523

-8.8

22,663

-14.3

Total

23,588

107.6

165,400

-12.2

177,774

-21.6

       
       

Cargo
(Metric Tonnes)

Nov 2021

% Change

Jan to
Nov 2021

% Change

Dec 2020 to
Nov 2021

% Change

Market

      

UK

5

2.3

210

-12.0

215

-25.3

EU

10,539

29.2

112,102

65.8

120,594

61.7

Non-EU Europe

6,173

-0.8

62,451

55.4

68,326

53.5

Africa

6,543

-13.8

69,014

13.9

77,587

14.3

North America

47,765

37.5

436,117

22.8

467,723

16.6

Latin America

1,943

-46.9

20,381

-33.1

23,687

-31.7

Middle East

20,575

4.9

209,146

8.3

227,614

6.3

Asia / Pacific

40,308

18.2

366,304

27.3

398,850

23.1

Total

133,852

17.3

1,275,725

23.3

1,384,595

19.2