By Matthew Roscoe • Published: 28 Oct 2020 • 9:17
PARIS has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s busiest airport after they reported falling passenger numbers and rising losses.
Heathrow slashed its outlook for next year’s passenger numbers after reporting on Wednesday, October 28, a loss of £1.5bn in the first nine months of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Britain’s airport has now been overtaken by Paris Charles de Gaulle as Europe’s busiest airport, with Heathrow blaming the UK government for falling with passenger testing after failing to bring in an airport testing regime to help kickstart travel.
Heathrow has always been seen as the busiest airport in Europe, however, during a tough year, they have ceded its long-held crown to Paris after stating it now expected only 37 million people to travel through the airport in 2021, having lowered its earlier forecast made in June by 41%.
Passenger numbers between July and September were down by more than 84% compared with the same period in 2019, in which Heathrow saw 18.97 million passengers in the year to the end of September, compared to the 19.27 million at Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Chief executive John Holland-Kaye has regularly pushed for passenger testing as a way to keep the aviation and travel industry going during the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “Britain is falling behind because we’ve been too slow to embrace passenger testing.
“European leaders acted quicker and now their economies are reaping the benefits.
“Paris has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s largest airport for the first time ever, and Frankfurt and Amsterdam are quickly gaining ground.
“Let’s make Britain a winner again.
“Bringing in pre-departure COVID tests and partnering with our US allies to open a pilot air bridge to America will kick-start our economic recovery and put the UK back ahead of our European rivals.”
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Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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