London’s Heathrow airport, the main British ‘hub’, marked last year by numerous malfunctions which hampered its take-off, announced on Monday that it had experienced ‘the strongest start of the year’ since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Over 5.4 million passengers passed through Heathrow in January, the busiest start to the year since 2020,” airport management said in a statement, adding that “overall passenger satisfaction is now at or above pre-pandemic levels’.
Heathrow had seen the number of passengers passing through its terminals more than triple last year, to 61.6 million travellers, although this level remained much lower than it was before the arrival of the Covid-related restrictions. 19.
The airport suffered last spring and then during the summer holidays from strikes and a staff shortage that resulted in long queues, delays, baggage handling problems and flight cancellations.
“In January, 98% of passengers waited less than 10 minutes to pass through security,” Heathtrow management said in its statement.
The airport on Monday welcomed the resumption, announced earlier this month, of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights to mainland China. They will restart these roads in the spring which they had deserted with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The aviation sector as a whole has been battered by the pandemic, with traffic having been largely paralyzed by health restrictions.
While the sector was struggling to absorb the recovery in demand last year, Heathrow also had to cap the number of passengers passing through its facilities each day due in particular to a shortage of staff. This measure was lifted on October 30.
A border police strike during the end-of-year holidays then disrupted the operation of the airport, which also announced at the beginning of February the departure this year of its general manager, John Holland-Kaye, without detailing the consequences. reasons.
/ATS