Heathrow Calls For COVID Testing As Passengers Number Dropped by 88%

London Heathrow Airport has again called on the UK Government to embrace COVID-19 testing at UK airports as passengers number dropped by 88 percent in July.  

The management of the Heathrow airport has blamed the government's quarantine policy for the drop in traffic and downturn in business at the airport. The busiest airport in Europe says, 60 percent of its route network remained grounded, requiring passengers to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “Tens of thousands of jobs are being lost because Britain remains cut off from critical markets such as the US, Canada, and Singapore".

“The government can save jobs by introducing testing to cut quarantine from higher-risk countries while keeping the public safe from the second wave of COVID.”

Heathrow’s passenger tally was down by 88 percent last month compared with July 2019. The Airport has suggested it could have testing measures put in place by early September, but ministers have rejected pleas to introduce Covid-19 tests at UK airports as a replacement for quarantine measures, claiming that a mandatory 14-day self-isolation for arrivals from higher-risk countries is a better way to prevent the virus spreading.

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