Testing centre lies empty at Heathrow Airport as transatlantic losses mount

Aviation experts want a testing regime to allow the vital London to New York route to re-open

Heathrow's chief executive has warned that Britain’s economic recovery is stalling due to the impact on international travel. British Airways

A Covid-19 testing facility at London’s Heathrow Airport that can handle 13,000 samples a day is lying unused a month after opening its doors as airport bosses unsuccessfully lobby for a new air bridge to the United States.

A new study by leading aviation firms published on Monday claimed that coronavirus-related restrictions on UK-US travel would cost the British economy at least £11 billion this year. Thousands of jobs are at risk unless transport links are re-established with the UK’s largest trading partner, said Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

More than 22 million passengers used direct air services between the two countries in 2019 but seat capacity is down 85 per cent compared with the same time last year, according to the study by trade body Airlines UK.

The US-UK route has restrictions on entry and quarantine requirements on both sides of the Atlantic. Travellers from the US need to self-isolate for 14 days.

The US bars entry to passengers who have been in the UK during the previous fortnight. In July, it allowed exemptions for some business travellers, investors, academics and students.

The privately-run testing centre at Heathrow opened in August.

Airport bosses said the facility was an opportunity to show Britain could safely reopen for business.

It was intended to allow passengers to be swab-tested and receive their results in a few hours.

A second test a few days later would allow the lifting of a two-week quarantine, said officials.

However, the government has declined to sign off on the programme and the facility remains empty.

Grant Shapps, the transport minister, said only seven per cent of people with coronavirus might be identified by the airport test.

But Heathrow said more than 30 countries had a system in place to test on arrival to avoid the need for quarantine.

The airport and British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz have both championed a plan to test out the system between London and New York.

Mr Holland-Kaye said: “This is an opportunity to set up a common international standard … that could apply around the world.

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100 years of British Airways - in pictures

The final British Airways Concorde flight lifts off from John F Kennedy Airport in New York on its final voyage to London, on October 24, 2003. AFP

The Royal Air Force Aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, and a British Airways Boeing 747 at 2019 Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, Britain, on July 20, 2019. EPA / RAF

Concorde pictured at Al Bateen Airport in Abu Dhabi in July 1974. Courtesy: Peter Alvis

A BOAC Boeing 707 taxing to its terminal gate as two Vickers VC10 long-range narrow-body four engined commercial jet airliners for the British Overseas Airways Corporation are refuelled at London Heathrow airport on October 22, 1968 in London. Getty Images

A British Airways Airbus A380. Courtesy British Airways

The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Short Sandringham passenger flying boat a demilitarised conversions of the Short Sunderland military flying boat taxing for its maiden flight from the Short Brothers facility on 28 November 1945 at Rochester, United Kingdom. Getty Images

A British Airways plane touches down in Phoenix in the US in 1996 with its Landor livery. Courtesy British Airways

British Airways Concorde Flight 1215 passes through a water display provided by the Massport Fire Rescue Department after arriving at Logan International Airport from London on October 8, 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston was one of only three North American cities, including Washington, DC and Toronto, to receive a special farewell visit from the Concorde before the supersonic fleet was taken out of service. Getty Images / AFP

A British Airways Boeing 747 passenger plane in historic BOAC livery. EPA

Aviation pioneer Sir Alan Cobham (1894 - 1973, left) with Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett (1910 - 1986), Chief Executive of British South American Airways, in front of a converted Lancaster bomber at Heathrow Airport, UK, 28th May 1947. J Wilds / Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Miss Dorothy West, a hostess on a British European Airways, Viking, photographed at Northolt, Northolt. Year unknown. Getty Images

The British European Airways (BEA) Vickers Viscount medium-range four engined turboprop commercial airliner circa 1960. Fox Photos / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

The earliest production de Havilland DH-106 Comet 1 four engined pressurised passenger jet airliner registration G-ALYP of the British Overseas Airways Corporation flying above the United Kingdom with the first prototype Ministry of Supply Comet DH106 G-ALVG during trials on 4th April 1951. Central Press / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

A British Airways special liveried Boeing 747 takes to the skies alongside the Red Arrows during the 2019 Royal International Air Tattoo on July 20, 2019 at RAF Fairford, England. The Boeing 747 has been painted in the airline's predecessor British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) livery to mark British Airways' centenary this year. Getty Images for British Airways

British aircraft engineer Geoffrey de Havilland (1882 - 1965, centre) hands over the articles of a new Comet IV jet airliner to Sir Gerard d'Erlanger (right), Chairman of BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), at London Airport, 30th September 1958. On the left is Aubrey F Burke, Managing Director of the de Havilland Aircraft Manufacturing Company. J Wilds / Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

22nd November 1977: Captain Brian Walpole smiles from the cockpit of Concorde, having flown from London to New York on its first commercial flight. Brian Alpert / Keystone / Getty Images

Spectators watch the last ever British Airways commercial Concorde flight touch down at Heathrow airport on October 24, 2003 in London. Getty Images

Hawker Siddeley HS 121 Trident 1C medium-range commercial jet airliners for British European Airways (BEA) lined up at de Havillands Hatfield Aerodrome following a Far East sales drive on October 29, 1963 in London. Getty Images

April 1946: Miss B Midgley of Northolt aerodrome stands under the nose of a BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) aircraft. She was one of ten 'air traffic girls' currently taking part in a course at Hurn airport, to learn how to deal professionally with passengers. Getty Images

A Hawker Siddeley HS 121 Trident 2E registration G-AVFF and a Trident 3B registration G-AWZJ medium-range commercial jet airliners for British European Airways (BEA) lined up at their passenger terminal gates at London Heathrow airport on May 1, 1975 in London. Getty Images

Concorde arrives at its final destination at The Museum of Flight, April 19, 2004 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Getty Images

A mass meeting that took place at London Airport during a strike by 4,000 British Overseas Airways Corporation engineers, on October 16, 1958. Getty Images

The second Anglo-French supersonic airliner, Concorde 002, at the British Aircraft Corporation's airfield at Filton, Bristol where it was construtcted. 002 is identical to Concorde 001, which was assembled in France, containing the same French and British built parts. Getty Images

A British Airways flight from London arrives in Gibraltar on September 11, 2018. Getty Images

A British Airways Airbus aircraft flies over the Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace during the London 2012 Victory Parade for Team GB and Paralympic GB athletes on September 10, 2012 in London. Getty Images

A British Airways plane flying past the moon on day four of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on June 28, 2012 in London. Getty Images

A British Airways plane taxis from Heathrow's Terminal 5 on October 25, 2016 in London. Getty Images

A British Airways plane makes its way towards City Airport, passing over the Shard building on February 14, 2019 in London, England. Getty Images

British Overseas Airways Corporation de Havilland DH-106 Comet 1 four engined pressurised passenger jet airliner registration G-ALYP taking off from London Heathrow airport on the world's first commercial jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers to Johannesburg, South Africa on May 2, 1952. Getty Images

Circa 1955: Passengers crossing the runway at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport to board a British European Airways flight. Getty Images

A British Aircraft Corporation Super One-Eleven 500 short-range commercial jet airliner (BAC 1-11 ) for British European Airways (BEA) registration G-AVMH County of Cheshire flying above the United Kingdom circa June 1967. Getty Images

The Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers Viscount 700 prototype medium-range commercial turboprop airliner for British European Airways (BEA) registration G-AMAV flying somewhere above the United Kingdom on April 18, 1953. Getty Images

A converted Avro Lancaster heavy bomber the Avro 683 Lancastrian MkI passenger airliner of the BOAC - British Overseas Airways Corporation registration G-AGMO flying above the United Kingdom circa 1946. Getty Images

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Mr Cruz, who faces making 12,000 staff redundant, told MPs last week that it was "incredibly important" to see up a testing regime as quickly as possible.

“Ministers must reach agreement with their US counterparts on a testing regime that minimises quarantine and permits regional travel corridors to reopen the UK-US market.

“They must learn from trials across the globe and start implementing new measures as soon as possible to return confidence in flying and protect thousands of jobs.”