Heathrow Airport
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Heathrow’s mothballed Terminal 4 is to reopen in July to cope with an expected surge in passenger traffic over the summer peak season.
It will mean that all of the passenger facilities at London’s airports will be up and running again by the summer, following the planned return of Gatwick’s South Terminal next month.
Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye said that while the pick up in demand at the start of the year was slower than expected, it is now starting to recover.
He added: “We are working closely with airlines to scale-up our operations and reopen Terminal 4 for the summer travel peak.
“We’re excited to welcome more passengers back to Heathrow to experience the joys of travel and get our economy firing on all cylinders again.”
Heathrow shut Terminals 3 and 4 in May 2020 as international travel collapsed amid lockdowns all over the world to halt the spread of Covid.
It led to airlines such as Air France, Etihad and KLM having to move to Terminal 2. Terminal 3 reopened in July last year.
Mr Holland-Kaye, who was announcing the airport’s annual financial results, said that 2021 had been “the worst year in Heathrow’s history”.
Passenger numbers fell to 19.4 million, the lowest since 1972, and Heathrow was the only European hub to see a reduction in traffic last year, mainly due to tighter travel restrictions than EU countries.
The airport fell just over £2 billion into the red last year, bringing its cumulative losses since the start of the pandemic to £3.8 billion.
Mr Holland-Kaye said passenger numbers were currently 23 per cent behind forecast so far this year, but he added: “We expect to meet our 2022 target of 45.5 million passengers.”
