Long queues at Heathrow as passengers come to terms with stricter Covid rules
Passengers travelling through Heathrow are experiencing huge queues following the introduction of stricter Covid rules, with bottlenecks forming as a result of people opting to take a PCR test straight after landing.
To stop the spread of the new Omicron variant, from 4am this morning all travellers to the UK need to take a PCR test within 48 hours after arrival, isolating until they have received a negative result.
Scrapped in October in favour of cheaper lateral flow ones, PCR tests are expected to make travelling harder, hindering the recovery of an industry – aviation – already hit hard by 20 months of pandemic.
Low-cost airline Easyjet announced today a £1.1bn loss in the financial year ending 30 September, with bookings now impacted by concerns over the new variant, Morning Wire reported.
In FY2021, the carrier registered a 52 per cent decrease in revenue, going down to £1.4bn. Due to air travel restrictions and the lockdowns implemented all across Europe, capacity decreased to 28.2 million seats, while passenger revenue and ancillary revenue went down to £1bn and £458m respectively.