UK’s Heathrow airport hopeful of summer tours after weak start to 2022

People queue to enter terminal 2, as tighter rules for international travellers start, at Heathrow Airport, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, London, Britain, January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Feb 11 (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest airport Heathrow had a slow start to 2022 after Omicron fears ruined travel plans of more than 1.3 million passengers, it said on Friday, although it was hopeful that outbound summer holidays could help offset the weakness.

Travel demand in January was weaker than expected, the airport to the west of London said in a statement, and over 56% down compared with pre-crisis levels in 2019, when Heathrow handled 80.9 million customers.

The airport, however, kept its forecast for the year unchanged of just over half of pre-pandemic levels, as bookings for summer holidays outside the UK were recovering even as tourism into the country remained weak.

The views echoed that of the world’s largest holiday company…