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LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Britain's Heathrow Airport
slashed the outlook for next year's passenger numbers as the
pandemic continues to crush demand for flying, and said it was
no longer the busiest airport in Europe, ceding its long-held
crown to Paris.
Heathrow on Wednesday said it now expected 37 million people
to travel through the airport in 2021, lowering an earlier
forecast made in June by 41% when it guided that 63 million
passengers would use it.
The airport said that during the pandemic, Paris Charles de
Gaulle had overtaken Heathrow as Europe's busiest airport,
blaming the UK government for not bringing in an airport testing
regime to help kickstart travel.
This will be a blow to Britain's global trade ambitions just
at a time when it most needs connectivity with the rest of the
world, two months ahead of the end of its current relationship
with the European Union.
Britain has said it will bring in airport testing by the
beginning of December, but Heathrow Chief Executive John
Holland-Kaye said it should go further and agree a deal to allow
travel between Heathrow and the United States.
"Bringing in pre-departure COVID tests and partnering with
our U.S. allies to open a pilot airbridge to America will
kickstart our economic recovery and put the UK back ahead of our
European rivals," he said in a statement.
Tightening travel restrictions this autumn have hit airlines
and airports, ruining hopes for a recovery.
Heathrow said the pandemic pushed it to a 1.5 billion pound
($1.95 billion) loss in the first nine months of the year on
passenger numbers which were down 84% in the three months to the
end of September.
But the company said its liquidity position was strong and
it had sufficient cash reserves for the next 12 months even if
travel stopped completely.
The airport is owned by Spain's Ferrovial, the
Qatar Investment Authority and China Investment Corp among
others.
($1 = 0.7673 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Alistair Smout and Kate
Holton)