Passenger numbers at UK airports last year were 78 percent below pre-pandemic levels, new figures show.
Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency found just 64.4 million passengers arrived or departed on flights at UK airports in 2021.
That is compared with 296.9 million in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic led to a huge reduction in demand for air travel.
Trade body the Airport Operators Association (AOA) said the figures highlight how the UK’s aviation sector “suffered more than European rivals last year” due to tougher travel restrictions.
Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, recorded its lowest annual number of passengers for nearly 50 years in 2021, at just 19.4 million.
This was a decline of 76 percent from the 2019 total of 80.9 million.
The west London airport has updated its 2022 passenger forecast from 45.5 million to 52.8 million, which would represent a return to 65 percent of pre-pandemic levels, but said it is not forecasting a return to profit and dividends this year despite an increase in outbound demand for travel.
Its losses during the coronavirus pandemic have now exceeded £4 billion.
Among the airports with the largest decreases in passenger numbers last year were Southend (down 95 percent), Cardiff (down 93 percent), Gatwick (down 87 percent), and London City (down 86 percent).
