Grim figures from Heathrow

London Heathrow Airport Ltd has published its throughput figures for May, not surprisingly an all-time low, down 97% compared to the same time last year.

In May 2019 2.2m passengers flowed through the airport.  Last month it was just 64,535.

In a statement this scenario is set to continue “Thanks to the Government’s quarantine policy which requires all arriving passengers to self-isolate for two weeks”.  With this in mind the airport has begun to restructure its frontline roles, having already cut one-third of managerial roles.

Heathrow says it will continue to urging the Government in establishing ‘air bridges’ to low risk countries, a proposal first suggested by Transport Minister Grant Shapps.  The statement also backed an industry call or a 12-month waiver in business rates for all airports in England and Wales, matching the support given to Scottish and Northern Irish airports and the UK’s hospitality and leisure sector.

Despite an increase in cargo-only aircraft, overall cargo tonnage has decreased by 40% as the bulk of cargo usually travels in the belly hold of passenger planes.

Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye, said: “Throughout this crisis, we have tried to protect front line jobs, but this is no longer sustainable, and we have now agreed a voluntary severance scheme with our union partners. While we cannot rule out further job reductions, we will continue to explore options to minimise the number of job losses.”

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