Heathrow sees drop of over 600,000 people from cancelled December flights
Tougher travel restrictions due to Omicron are to blame
Heathrow Airport has seen a drop in traffic by over 600,000 people during the month of December.
Many holidaymakers felt uncomfortable to leave the country due to fears of contracting the Omicron variant of coronavirus abroad.
In addition, tougher travel restrictions to enter the UK were also held responsible for the reduction in passenger footfall.
During the month of December, the UK imposed harsher rules for entering the country, including the requirement for a pre-departure test before coming to the UK. Arrivals would then need to self-isolate until a post-arrival PCR test came back negative.
As a result of the more rigid restrictions, coupled with unease over the new strain of Covid, many passengers cancelled their flight plans over the festive period.
However, the rules brought in in December have since been relaxed for fully vaccinated travellers as the Omicron variant was too far spread in the UK for the restrictions to be effective.
While international travel suffered heavily during December, domestic air travel saw a rise of over 21% compared to 2020 figures.
Just under 20 million people passed through Heathrow Airport in 2021, which serves as the UK's busiest airport.
However, this number is 12.3% lower than the previous year and less than a quarter than pre-pandemic levels.
Speaking about the figures, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said there needs to be more confidence put into the travel industry.
"There are currently travel restrictions, such as testing, on all Heathrow routes," he said.
"The aviation industry will only fully recover when these are all lifted and there is no risk that they will be reimposed at short notice, a situation which is likely to be years away."
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