UK's Heathrow April passenger numbers slump 92% since 2019
Britain's Heathrow lost almost 6.3 million passengers in April compared with the same month in 2019, figures released on Tuesday by the airport revealed.
Only 536,000 people travelled through the airport last month, a 92% slump on the same period two years ago.
The UK government ban on overseas leisure travel from England is set to be lifted on Monday as part of the next easing of coronavirus restrictions, but Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye attacked the decision to only put a handful of countries on its green travel list.
People returning to England from destinations in the so-called "green tier" will not need to self-isolate but are required to take one post-arrival test.
"The government’s green list is very welcome but they need to expand it massively in the next few weeks to include other low-risk markets such as the United States, and remove the need for fully-vaccinated passengers to take two expensive PCR tests," said Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye.
“Border Force’s claims that ‘long queues in immigration are inevitable’ smack of complacency. They are completely avoidable if ministers ensure that all desks are staffed at peak times.”