Heathrow boss: Passenger testing could save “tens of thousands of jobs”

The CEO of Heathrow Airport has once again hit out at the government for failing to implement widespread passenger testing.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye has said that “tens of thousands of jobs” are being lost as a result of passenger quarantining.

Mr Holland-Kaye has made the comments in the airport’s July commentary, which has shown a ‘slight uplift’ in passenger traffic since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

July saw the airport welcome 860,000 passengers - a decrease of 88 per cent on the previous year.

The comments follow Mr Holland-Kaye’s criticism of the government last month, in which he said the UK was playing “quarantine roulette”.

Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye, commented: “Tens of thousands of jobs are being lost because Britain remains cut off from critical markets such as the US, Canada and Singapore.

“The government can save jobs by introducing testing to cut quarantine from higher risk countries, while keeping the public safe from a second wave of COVID.”