The UK's largest airport said that "swiftly imposed" action during the month of December to tackle the Omicron variant in the run-up to the festive season prompted uncertainty among the travellers who faced additional bills for costly PCR tests.

 

It added that there was now significant doubt on when demand would return despite the subsequent lifting of UK rules last week governing pre-departure Coronavirus testing for people arriving in the country, the report said.

 

Heathrow urged governments to go further to help the wider travel sector gain traction.

 

John Holland-Kaye, Chief Executive Officer at Heathrow Airport, said: "There are currently travel restrictions, such as testing, on all Heathrow routes - the aviation industry will only fully recover when these are all lifted and there is no risk that they will be reimposed at short notice, a situation which is likely to be years away", as per the report.

 

Heathrow said that it carried fewer passengers in 2021 than in 2020 when the crisis first took hold - with lockdowns globally forcing it to cut jobs and report a 2 billion pound annual loss.