Heathrow pins hopes on summer bookings after weak January

Britain's Heathrow airport on Friday said more than 1.3m passengers either cancelled or didn’t book trips in the last two months due to fears over the Omicron Covid variant.

Travel demand was weaker than expected in January and down 56% from pre-pandemic levels.

However, forecasts for the year remained unchanged of just over half of pre-pandemic levels, as bookings for summer holidays outside the UK were recovering even as tourism into the country remained weak.

“After a tough Christmas, Omicron has continued to bite and this has been a weak start to the year,” said chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

“As short-lived as the additional travel restrictions were, they ruined the travel plans of more than 1.3 million passengers in the last two months.”

Holland-Kaye called on the UK government “to support the sustainable recovery of travel and trade by outlining a playbook for managing future variants and seeking international harmonisation of travel rules”, as restrictions for were lifted.