Heathrow airport is calling on the government to allow UK nationals from red list countries to isolate at home so that they can be reunited with loved ones for Christmas.
The UK travel red list and more onerous testing rules were reintroduced earlier this month in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
The airport warned that the latest travel restrictions have further dampened passenger confidence at a time when demand is down by 60% on pre-pandemic levels, despite the US reopening in November.
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The hub has reported a “high level” of cancellations by business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas because of pre-departure testing, saying this shows the “potential harm to the economy of travel restrictions”.
Heathrow forecasts a slow start to 2022, finishing next year with about 45 million passengers – just over half of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels.
It warned in a statement: “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.”
John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow chief executive, 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.”
On Thursday (December 9), transport secretary Grant Shapps has said he doesn’t want the red list and hotel quarantine in place “for a moment longer than necessary”.
He told the BBC that a time will come, “probably no more than days or a short number of weeks away” when the government would want to review and potentially remove countries from the red list.
As the Omicron variant spreads out, the government accepted “the inevitability that it the end it gets everywhere, exactly as Delta did”, said Shapps.
Just over three million passengers used Heathrow airport in November, bringing the total so far for 2021 to just over 16 million.
Earlier this month, Heathrow reopened Terminal 4 as a dedicated facility for arrivals from the 11 red list countries, which are all in Africa.
Other arrivals can pre-book PCR tests either on-site or close to the airport to speed up post-arrival testing requirements.
All travellers age 12 and must take a Covid test within 48 hours of setting off for the UK from any destination. People are also required to take a PCR test within two days of arrival.
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