Heathrow’s Parisian eclipse isn’t a question of Covid testing
Heathrow CE John Holland-Kaye’s campaigning could be heard over the roar of a jet engine. He has spent six months arguing for more testing and less quarantining to help revive his airport. The government’s response has been to don its ear defenders. On Wednesday, Holland-Kaye tried appealing to national pride instead. Heathrow has been eclipsed as Europe’s busiest airport, he said. More passengers passed through Paris Charles de Gaulle in the first nine months of the year — fail to do more on airport testing and Frankfurt and Amsterdam Schiphol could also catch up, he implied. CDG has been closing in on Heathrow for some time. Capacity constraints have limited the west London airport’s expansion. Passenger numbers at the flagship French airport increased 5% last year to Heathrow’s 15. Holland-Kaye tried pulling at patriotic heartstrings back in February when he warned Heathrow would lose its top spot within two years. The government has ducked pushing on with a third runway regardless. The latest passenger numbers are bald. Charles de Gaulle has had roughly 19.3m passengers so far this year, Heathrow 19m. But Holland-Kaye’s claim that the UK’s poor show on airport testing is to blame for Heathrow’s relative decline is hot air. Heathrow’s passenger numbers are down 69% year-on-year since January; CDG’s 67%. It is hard to conclude differing approaches to testing are what has separated the two when the slumps are that steep. At Frankfurt the fall is sharper still: 70% between January and September. Schiphol is at 68%. The similarities between the three outweigh their differences. Neither Aéroports de Paris, owner of CDG and Paris Orly, nor Fraport, which operates Frankfurt, are having an easy ride. All have high exposure to business travel and transcontinental routes. No one needs to fret about CDG overtaking Heathrow for now. Both depend on a co-ordinated global testing regime to tempt travellers back for a real recovery. Nonetheless, Heathrow’s global hub status is under threat in the long-term. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2020-10-29/general/heathrow2019s-parisian-eclipse-isn2019t-a-question-of-covid-testing
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/logo.png
Heathrow’s Parisian eclipse isn’t a question of Covid testing
Heathrow CE John Holland-Kaye’s campaigning could be heard over the roar of a jet engine. He has spent six months arguing for more testing and less quarantining to help revive his airport. The government’s response has been to don its ear defenders. On Wednesday, Holland-Kaye tried appealing to national pride instead. Heathrow has been eclipsed as Europe’s busiest airport, he said. More passengers passed through Paris Charles de Gaulle in the first nine months of the year — fail to do more on airport testing and Frankfurt and Amsterdam Schiphol could also catch up, he implied. CDG has been closing in on Heathrow for some time. Capacity constraints have limited the west London airport’s expansion. Passenger numbers at the flagship French airport increased 5% last year to Heathrow’s 15. Holland-Kaye tried pulling at patriotic heartstrings back in February when he warned Heathrow would lose its top spot within two years. The government has ducked pushing on with a third runway regardless. The latest passenger numbers are bald. Charles de Gaulle has had roughly 19.3m passengers so far this year, Heathrow 19m. But Holland-Kaye’s claim that the UK’s poor show on airport testing is to blame for Heathrow’s relative decline is hot air. Heathrow’s passenger numbers are down 69% year-on-year since January; CDG’s 67%. It is hard to conclude differing approaches to testing are what has separated the two when the slumps are that steep. At Frankfurt the fall is sharper still: 70% between January and September. Schiphol is at 68%. The similarities between the three outweigh their differences. Neither Aéroports de Paris, owner of CDG and Paris Orly, nor Fraport, which operates Frankfurt, are having an easy ride. All have high exposure to business travel and transcontinental routes. No one needs to fret about CDG overtaking Heathrow for now. Both depend on a co-ordinated global testing regime to tempt travellers back for a real recovery. Nonetheless, Heathrow’s global hub status is under threat in the long-term. <br/>
