Heathrow loses 90,000 transfer passengers due to ETA scheme

Britain's Heathrow Airport said on Monday that passenger numbers had fallen by 90,000 on certain routes following the introduction of a £10 electronic travel authorisation charge that it branded “devastating" for its hub competitiveness.

Heathrow said: “The latest data following the introduction of the ETA shows that Heathrow has lost 90,000 transfer passengers on routes operating to and from the seven countries included in the scheme, since its introduction in 2023."

Citizens of Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan without legal residence or a visa were required to pay the ETA cost, while the programme will roll out to the EU, the European Economic Area and Swiss nationals in early 2025.

“We urge the government to review the inclusion of airside transit passengers. Every little bit of extra competitiveness that the government can deliver for aviation will help deliver vital growth for the whole of the UK economy," said Heathrow.

Heathrow also said it had been patronised by 7.98m people in July, up 4.2% year-on-year to make it Europe’s busiest airport during the first six months of the year, while its year-to-date total of 47.81m was 6.9% higher year-on-year. The airport also surpassed a weekly passenger total of 1.8m for the first time in its history last month, doing so for three consecutive weeks from 8 July.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com