UK travel sector still in strife despite restrictions easing

International travel from the UK is yet to restart in a “meaningful” way despite the easing of some restrictions

Trade group Airlines UK says that bookings had failed to recover due to the “frustrating” traffic light system and costly testing requirements.

The comments came as London’s Heathrow Airport warned it expects to see a further fall in passenger numbers in 2021.

Heathrow Airport has welcomed just four million passengers in the first six months of the year.

Back in 2019, it would the busy airport would receive four million passengers in just under a month.

What will be the answer to restart the industry?

In a letter to the transport secretary Grant Shapps, Airlines UK noted that passenger bookings throughout the rest of Europe had recovered to 50% of pre-crisis levels in June – that was compared to just 16% in the UK.

Meanwhile, US visitor numbers to the UK are still only 20% of 2019 levels.

Blaming the traffic light system, the trade group stated that the amount of spending on travel was now back at “the same fraught position as last year”.

The airline representative group cited the decision to remove Portugal from the green list of Covid-safe destinations.