Heathrow bosses accuse government Covid travel rules of "strangling the economy"

Heathrow bosses today declared quarantines that have grounded 60% of its routes are "strangling the economy" and repeated its calls on the government to open up testing at airports for Covid-19 so flights can get back to something resembling normality.

Five months into the coronavirus crisis, July's traffic through Britain's biggest airport was still down 88% on the previous year. That was slightly up on the previous month due to the opening of the first so-called "travel corridors" on July 4 but still marked a major restriction on travel to and from the UK.

More than half of the passengers who did fly out of the airport - over 480,000 - went to European summer holiday destinations.

Heathrow chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said: "Tens of thousands of jobs are being lost because Britain remains cut off from critical markets such as the US, Canada and Singapore. The government can save jobs by introducing testing to cut quarantine from higher risk countries, while keeping the public safe from a second wave of Covid."

His calls to bring in testing at airports have been rejected by ministers who have said 14 days of self-isolation in quarantine is the only way to keep the country safe from those visiting Covid-affected areas.

Holland-Kaye wants a so-called "double test" where passengers receive a test on arrival, followed by a second test five or eight days into quarantine.

Heathrow has said it can get a test in place by early September

Heathrow has been desperately trying to lure more passengers to fly from its runways.

Airlines have launched a flurry of new short-haul leisure routes from the airport in the hope of tempting summer holidaymakers, including Dubrovnik, Genoa and Verona but British travellers still remain wary of flying, particularly amid regularly shifting travel advice and quarantine changes.

Domestic airline, Eastern Airways, has announced plans to operate from Heathrow for the first time with domestic flights as Heathrow attempts to find users for its empty takeoff and landing slots.