Dhaka: London's Heathrow Airport urged the United Kingdom on July 26 to open up travel for vaccinated passengers as the country’s industry recovery fell behind Europe with pandemic losses amounting to USD 4 billion.

Heathrow, in pre-pandemic, was the busiest airport in Europe. But in the first half of 2021, fewer than four million people traveled through the airport, a level which was witnessed in only 18 days of 2019's traffic.

Heathrow expressed hope that 21.5 million passengers will travel through the airport in 2021. They are anticipating pent-up demand for holidays.

The UK's travel industry continues to be battered by surging coronavirus cases at home and government restrictions following them.

Heathrow is said to increase liquidity to GBP 4.8 billion (USD 6.60 billion). It has also sought a waiver of its Heathrow Finance ICR covenant for the financial year 2021 following the pressures on its cash flow.

For six months till June 30, Heathrow posted an adjusted loss before tax of GBP 787 million (USD 1.08 billion), compared to the GBP 471 million loss for the same period in 2020.