UK’s hub airport donations continue

Laptops, facemasks, liquid bags and more - Heathrow continues to support the local community in the fight against coronavirus impacts in a wide variety of ways. Our very own Heathrow Community Rangers have been helping deliver much needed supplies to local hospitals, foodbanks, schools and homes. 

In the last two weeks, this has resulted in the donation and delivery from Heathrow of:

• 36 laptops to local schools to help support home-learning   
• 60,000 liquid bags and 5,000 FFP3 face masks to NHS heroes. This is in addition to a previous donation of 5,000 face masks.
• 9,500 chocolate eggs and 4,000 cartons of juice to local foodbanks and primary schools  
• Learning packs to 500 families – each with a donated chocolate Crème egg inside!   

These donations are in addition to a number of initiatives by the airport including online educational resources for teachers and parents to support home schooling.

Separately, the Heathrow Communtiy Trust granted £95,000 in rapid emergency funding for local community groups responding to Covid-19 and support projects. This included equipping elderly residents with technology to help stay connected with friends and family. 

Cranford Primary School Deputy Headteacher Jasmeen Bhatla welcomed the donations and said, “Cranford Primary School are overwhelmed by the kind generous donation from Heathrow Executives.”

“For our school community, this donation will make a difference to the provision for our pupils. We are extremely thankful.”  

The Heathrow volunteers making a difference…

Meanwhile, a host of other Heathrow colleagues, #HeathrowHelpers, continue to volunteer in their own communities through the donation of meals, 3D printing facemasks and delivering supplies to shielding residents.

Sustainability Campaign and Project Manager Crista Buznea is the latest to join this group, having collected over 60 bags of rubbish from public parkland while on her daily walks.

Crista said while her passion for the environment has been one motivation it is the sense of helping out her community which is the biggest driver.

“I really like doing it for the obvious environmental reasons, but also because it feels like I'm doing something helpful for the community during these strange times,” Crista said.

“Every time someone walks past and smiles or waves, I acknowledge that as a small moment of connection.”    

Click here to find out how other fantastic #HeathrowHelpers like Crista have chosen to dedicate some of their extra time to support the NHS heroes and local community.  

The COVID-19 impact on Heathrow

In April, passenger numbers were down 97% with the airport supporting essential travel for just 200,000 people in the entire month – the same number it would typically serve in just one day. Many of those passengers were on board the 218 charted repatriation flights that landed at Heathrow.  

While passenger flights have reduced significantly, Heathrow is now welcoming over 1000% more than normal cargo flights per week.

A total of 1,788 cargo only flights operated from Heathrow in April as the airport continues to receive time-critical and temperature-sensitive medical supplies for the nation such as ventilators, medicines and COVID-19 testing kits.

Looking to the future, Heathrow is calling on the UK Government to take a lead in championing a common international standard for health screening at airports so that borders can re-open in time and passengers can travel with confidence again.

The airport is this week beginning trials of new technology and processes to help with this next step.

To find out more please visit our Coronavirus FAQ page: Heathrow.com/Coronavirus