Upcoming travel review key for UK

Heathrow passenger numbers remain 71% down in August versus the same month pre-pandemic.

The ever-changing restrictions, expensive and unnecessary testing requirements and lack of a common approach across borders continue to hinder the UK’s economic recovery.

From being the busiest airport in Europe in 2019, Heathrow is now 10^th as rivals including Schiphol, Paris and Frankfurt are all recovering at a much quicker pace. EU competitors also recovered back to 2019 cargo volumes at the end of 2020, whereas cargo at the UK’s biggest port is still down 14%. The current traffic light system is an outlier and is delaying the Government’s Global Britain ambitions, handing rivals a competitive advantage while the UK loses market share.

The Government's Global Travel Taskforce is set to review the UK's travel regime in the coming weeks, and we urge Ministers to streamline the system to get travel levels and the economic activity safely back to pre-pandemic levels, otherwise the UK will continue to lose trade and face lower levels of foreign tourism, impacting jobs and slowing the UK’s economic recovery. 

Heathrow's proposals, supported by major airlines and the wider travel and tourism industry, are for the Government to remove the amber list and create a safe but simple two-tier system – a green list and red list, retaining hotel quarantine. Ministers must recognise the success of the global vaccination programme and move from a country-based approach to a risk-based one, based on individuals’ vaccination status. Fully vaccinated travellers should not be required to take a test, while those who are not vaccinated should continue to take a pre-departure and arrival test using lateral flow, following up with a PCR test if positive.

As passenger numbers grow, Border Force must ensure they have adequate resources and processes in place to ensure travellers receive a warm welcome into the UK. Recent scenes of passengers waiting for hours to be processed through the UK border are totally unacceptable. Border Force can and should deliver both a secure UK border and an efficient service for passengers. 

Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye said:

“The Government has the tools to protect the UK’s international competitiveness which will boost the economic recovery and achieve its Global Britain ambitions. If Ministers fail to take this opportunity to streamline the travel rules then the UK will fall further behind as trade and tourists will increasingly by-pass the UK"