Heathrow airport warns pre-pandemic passenger levels won’t return for a ‘number of years’

Heathrow airport bosses have warned that it will be “a number of years” before air travel will return to pre-pandemic levels.

The airport said it expected to carry between 60 million and 62 million passengers in 2022, 25% less than in 2019.

The cost-of-living crisis, Ukraine war and impact of Covid had hit demand for international travel, bosses said.

The operator added that it needed to recruit and train 25,000 security-cleared staff across the airport.

Heathrow bosses said that from October 30 it will lift the 100,000 passenger-a-day cap on traveller numbers that it imposed in the summer to avoid severe backlogs in light of staff shortages.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “We have lifted the summer cap and are working with airlines and their ground handlers to get back to full capacity at peak times as soon as possible.

“As we look to the future, we encourage the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to think again at stimulating the long-term investment that will deliver the smooth and predictable journeys consumer value most, rather than focusing on short-term pricing which we have seen only benefits airline profits.”

The government has previously said it has introduced a "range of measures to help process security checks as quickly as possible", claiming about 97% of accreditation checks are completed in five days on average.

The Department for Transport has said it has provided flexibility for employers to start new staff on certain training courses while their background checks are ongoing.