With $4 billion in losses, Heathrow tells UK: open up travel
Reuters
Published Jul 26, 2021 02:53AM ET
Updated Jul 26, 2021 03:06AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) -London's Heathrow Airport urged Britain on Monday to open up travel to vaccinated passengers after its recovery fell behind Europe, pushing its cumulative pandemic losses to $4 billion.
Heathrow, which before the pandemic was the busiest airport in Europe, said that fewer than four million people travelled through the airport in the first half of 2021, a level which would have been surpassed in 18 days of 2019's traffic.
It said it now believes 21.5 million passengers will travel through Heathrow in 2021, driven by what it hopes will be pent-up demand for holidays.
"The UK... is falling behind its EU rivals in international trade by being slow to remove restrictions," Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye said in a statement on Monday.
Britain's travel industry continues to be plagued by surging COVID-19 cases at home and government caution, causing last-minute rule changes and cancellations.
Heathrow said it had increased liquidity to 4.8 billion pounds ($6.60 billion), and sought a waiver of its Heathrow Finance ICR covenant for the financial year 2021 due to pressures on its cashflow.
For the six months to June 30, Heathrow posted an adjusted loss before tax of 787 million pounds ($1.08 billion), compared to the 471 million loss for the same period last year which was only half affected by the pandemic.
($1 = 0.7274 pounds)
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.