Heathrow says traffic won't recover fully until 'at least' 2026

Heathrow said on Tuesday that it does not expect traffic to fully recover until at least 2026 as it reported a narrowing of its losses for the nine months to the end of September.

Pre-tax losses narrowed to £1.38bn from £1.52bn the year before, with revenues down 26.9% at £951m. The airport has lost £3.4bn cumulatively since the start of the pandemic.

Heathrow said it experienced its first full quarter of passenger growth since 2019 in the third quarter, "underscoring strong pent-up demand as travel restrictions eased and testing requirements were simplified". Passenger numbers recovered to 28%, and cargo to 90% of pre-pandemic levels. Nevertheless, traffic is not expected to fully recover until "at least" 2026.

Chief executive officer John Holland-Kaye said: "We are on the cusp of a recovery which will unleash pent-up demand, create new quality jobs and see Britain’s trade roar back to life - but it risks a hard landing unless secured for the long-haul.

"To do that, we need continued focus on the global vaccination programme so that borders can reopen without testing; we need a fair financial settlement from the CAA to sustain service and resilience after 15 years of negative real returns for investors; and we need a progressively increasing global mandate for Sustainable Aviation Fuels so that we can protect the benefits of aviation in a world without carbon."