by Paul Sandle
LONDON. April 26 (Reuters) – London’s Heathrow Airport on Tuesday raised its passenger traffic forecast for 2022 to 52.8 million, or 65% of pre-pandemic levels, on the back of demand for leisure travel, while warning that he expects the numbers to drop significantly after the summer.
The airport, which reported an adjusted profit of 273 million pounds (325.4 million euros) for the first quarter, also said that it did not expect a return to profits and dividends in 2022, the Cumulative losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic exceeded £4 billion.
Chief executive John Holland-Kaye warned that despite demand from Britons for city tourism and beach holidays, the outlook beyond the summer was uncertain.
“After (the summer) it is still unclear what will happen, if in the best case demand continues to improve and the markets open up, or if in the worst case we have a new wave of COVID and restrictions around the world,” he said in an interview.
Some UK airports have been the scene of chaotic scenes in recent weeks as they struggle to increase staff to cope with the recovery in passenger demand.
But according to John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow Airport, Britain’s busiest, has largely avoided those problems.
Heathrow plans to recruit more than 1,000 new security officers and is helping airlines, ground handling agents and retailers fill more than 12,000 vacancies, the chief executive added.
The airport is also awaiting final proposals from the UK aviation regulator on the fees it can charge airlines per passenger for the period 2022-2027.
The airport wants to increase them by almost half, but the aeronautical authority and the airlines oppose it. (Report Paul Sandle, French version Diana Mandiá; editing by Kate Entringer)