Heathrow passenger numbers plunge 73% in 2020 amid wider gloom for airlines
Britain’s busiest airport said on Monday that it saw passenger numbers slump 73% during 2020, as COVID-19 restrictions all but shut down the travel industry.
For December alone, passenger numbers at Heathrow plummeted 83% as fear about the new strain of COVID-19 meant countries shut their borders to the UK. Alongside this, millions of people were forced to cancel Christmas travel.
The approval of the first vaccines in November was perceived to be a turning point for the industry, but the complication of new, more transmittable strains of the virus has lead to further groundings.
At one point following the news more than 50 countries had closed their borders to the UK for fear of spreading it.
The airport also said that its annual cargo volumes fell 28% as fewer passenger planes meant there was less space available for goods.
The beleaguered airline sector has been among the worst hit industries by the COVID-19 pandemic, as travel was all but halted last March due to the coronavirus.
Figures from November show the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects a net loss of $118.5bn (£87.6bn) for the industry in 2020. Airlines are expected to lose another $38.7bn in 2021.
Heathrow has seen the sharp end of this, and was knocked from the top spot of Europe’s largest airport, overtaken on passenger numbers by Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for the first time in October, with Amsterdam Schiphol and Frankfurt “close behind.”
At the time, the company significantly revised down its 2021 forecasts as the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions continue to hit air travel, predicting 37.1 million passengers next year.
It had forecast 62.8 million in June, a sharp decline on 2019 levels but still a significant recovery compared to the 22.6 million journeys now expected this year.
Pandemic-fuelled events that roiled the airline sector
EasyJet gets $1.87bn liquidity loan injection (January 2021)
Travel firms cancel flights and holidays due to third lockdown (January 2021)
UK economy in crisis as countries ban flights and freight from UK (December 2020)
IATA: Airline industry to make $118bn loss in 2020 (November 2020)
Coronavirus: Holiday booking sites 'impossible to contact' over refunds and cancellations (November 2020)
British Airways-owner IAG worst FTSE 100 stock of 2020 (year-long look)
WATCH: Airline sector will recover in 3 to 7 years