Heathrow tells UK: do passenger testing or lose 'quarantine roulette'

By Sarah Young

LONDON (Reuters) - Heathrow Airport, once Europe's busiest airport, called on Britain to urgently back a passenger testing regime, warning that without one, strict quarantine rules will stop travel, stall the economy and lead to more job losses.

Heathrow said that to avoid losing a game of global "quarantine roulette", the government should cut quarantine from 14 days to around eight days for passengers who take two tests over the course of a week.

The worst public health crisis since the 1918 influenza outbreak has wrought turmoil across the world and just as the travel industry restarted there are now fears of a second wave of shutdowns after Britain hastily imposed a quarantine on travelers from Spain.

"The UK needs a passenger testing regime and fast," Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said. "Without it, Britain is just playing a game of quarantine roulette."

The cost of a coronavirus test at the airport would be about 150 pounds ($195) per person and the passenger would be expected to pay, Holland-Kaye told Reuters on Wednesday.

While he conceded that was not cheap, he said consumers and business travelers would be prepared to pay, and it would help Britain protect its aviation industry, which has already announced over 20,000 job cuts, and facilitate trade.

"We are an island nation - we cannot cut ourselves off from the world for the foreseeable future," Holland-Kaye told the BBC.

Quarantine rules are in place for arrivals to Britain from the United States, a lucrative market for Heathrow accounting for 20% of its traffic, as well countries such as India and Spain.

'NO SILVER BULLET'

Responding to Heathrow's criticism, a minister said there was no easy solution to allow quarantine-free travel from countries with higher infection rates.

"It can incubate over a period of time so there's not a silver bullet of just testing immediately at the border," Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told the BBC.

But Holland-Kaye said the government was receptive to Heathrow's double testing plan, which needs agreement that two tests, one on arrival and one either five or eight days later, can reduce the number of days a person spends quarantining.

Heathrow said it was trialling testing with companies Swissport and Collinson Group and the system could be up and running within two weeks.

The test would add significant cost to the cost of travel, with Heathrow's biggest operator British Airways selling European tickets from about 50 pounds and tickets to the United States from about 400 pounds.

The potential extra cost heightens the challenge for airlines desperate to fill planes and start generating profits again after the pandemic wiped out air travel for months.

Airports are also suffering. Heathrow passenger numbers fell 96% in the second quarter on revenue which was down 85%, pushing the airport to a 1.1 billion pound loss for the first six months of the year. Despite the loss, the airport said its finances remained robust.

British travel industry leaders wrote a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging him to introduce targeted regional travel corridors and development of COVID-19 testing, after recent confusion over policies related to Spain.

The letter, seen by Reuters and dated Wednesday, said that "the lack of a more targeted approach to quarantine and travel advice will simply further damage the travel and hospitality sector by creating uncertainty for both inbound and outbound visitors".

It was signed by 47 airlines, airports and tour operators, including IAG's British Airways, Dart Group Plc's (NYSE: DTG) Jet2.com and the Heathrow Airport.

(Additional reporting by Paul Sandle, Kanishka Singh and Juby Babu; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Alison Williams)

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