Passenger Terminal Today
Elizabeth Baker
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has called on the UK government to carry out an urgent review of its new travel restrictions, in light of the 10-20% reduction in passenger numbers since the introduction of Day 2 PCR tests.
The Day 2 PCR tests were announced to the UK aviation sector on November 27, 2021, as an additional measure against the Omicron variant, alongside the pre-departure tests already in place. According to the MAG Group’s data, this new rule increased the already substantial impact that Covid-19 has had on each of its airports:
Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands. MAG airports welcomed 6.6 million passengers from April 1 to September 30, 2021, compared with 36.4 million for the same period in 2019. Losing these 29.8 million passengers led the group to a reported loss of £75.7m (US$99.9m) before interest and tax during the six-month period.
By contrast, the group made £172.7m (US$227.9m) in profit for the same six months in 2019.
Though the group saw year-on-year revenues increase by £64.9m (US$85.6m), this figure was down 70% on the same period two years ago.
These figures showed that MAG passenger numbers remained 82% down on pre-pandemic levels in this period, despite initial early signs of recovery.
