Long queues at Heathrow as passengers come to terms with stricter Covid rules
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Passengers travelling through Heathrow are experiencing huge queues following the introduction of stricter Covid rules, with bottlenecks forming as a result of people opting to take a PCR test straight after landing.
To stop the spread of the new Omicron variant, from 4am this morning all travellers to the UK need to take a PCR test within 48 hours after arrival, isolating until they have received a negative result.
Scrapped in October in favour of cheaper lateral flow ones, PCR tests are expected to make travelling harder, hindering the recovery of an industry – aviation – already hit hard by 20 months of pandemic.
Low-cost airline Easyjet announced today a £1.1bn loss in the financial year ending 30 September, with bookings now impacted by concerns over the new variant, City A.M. reported.
In FY2021, the carrier registered a 52 per cent decrease in revenue, going down to £1.4bn. Due to air travel restrictions and the lockdowns implemented all across Europe, capacity decreased to 28.2 million seats, while passenger revenue and ancillary revenue went down to £1bn and £458m respectively.