(Corrects in 10th paragraph to show pay cut applies to 7,000
directly employed staff)
By Sarah Young
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Heathrow Airport, traditionally
the busiest in Europe, forecast that passenger numbers would
plunge by more than 90% in April, as coronavirus restrictions
stop most people from traveling.
The remaining 10%, or around 680,000 people, still using
Heathrow this month will be either Britons returning home after
being stuck abroad or foreign citizens repatriating, as well as
medical experts traveling to help with the crisis.
Heathrow also said on Tuesday its passenger numbers were
down 52% in March compared with the same month last year, as the
6.5 million who went on holiday or traveled for work last March
shrunk to 3.1 million this year.
The airport, which is owned by a group of investors
including Spain's Ferrovial, the Qatar Investment
Authority and China Investment Corp, said it was now only using
one of its two runways.
Heathrow has for more than a decade been trying to build a
third runway because it was operating at full capacity before
the crisis.
Priority was now being given to cargo flights with medical
supplies, the airport said, although overall cargo volumes were
down by a third last month because supplies mostly travel in the
hold of passenger planes.
British Airways (part of ICAG) and Virgin Atlantic
have both partnered with the government to operate cargo-only
flights this month, bringing medical supplies such as
ventilators and personal protective equipment to the UK.
Heathrow said it wanted to work with the government to
develop a health screening process for passengers and that
common international practices needed to be developed.
"Now is the time to agree a common international standard
for healthcare screening in airports so that when this crisis
recedes, people can travel with confidence," Heathrow's CEO John
Holland-Kaye said.
Heathrow has agreed a 10% pay cut with its 7,000 directly
employed staff, out of 76,500 people who work at the airport,
and is reducing the number of terminals it has open to lower
costs.
It recently paid shareholders 100 million pounds ($125.5
million) in dividends, a payout it said was agreed in February
before the impact of the coronavirus crisis became clear.
($1 = 0.7967 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young
Editing by Kate Holton and David Holmes)