Heathrow Airport On Hiring Spree as Traffic Rises, Restrictions Lessen

International passengers walk through the arrivals area at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London on Nov. 26, 2021. Leon Neal/Getty Images

London Heathrow Airport, which is seeing a spike in passenger numbers, plans on hiring more employees ahead of the upcoming summer holidays as government restrictions are lifted and people are eager to travel again following the pandemic lockdowns.

The airport saw 4.2 million passengers in March 2022, the highest monthly total since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Compared to March 2021, there was a 674.8 percent rise in passengers for March 2022, according to an April 11 press release from the airport.

Between January and March 2022, 9.66 million passengers traveled through the airport, an increase of 475 percent when compared to the same time period the previous year. Between April 2021 and March 2022, Heathrow saw 27.37 million passengers, a nearly 200 percent increase compared to the previous period between April 2020 and March 2021.

As the summer season is expected to see higher demand, with peak days being close to 2019 levels, the airport is hiring more employees, with plans to add 12,000 new workers.

The record high numbers in March 2022 followed weak numbers in January and February. Passenger demand is being driven by “outbound leisure at weekends and during school holidays” as British people enjoy their reinstated freedom of travel following the government’s removal of travel restrictions, Heathrow stated.

Moreover, Brits who received cash vouchers from trips canceled during COVID-19 also contributed to the demand, the release stated. Inbound leisure and business travel remained weak due to high COVID-19 levels in the country and testing requirements.

“It is fantastic to see the airport coming back to life after two years, and I want to thank all Team Heathrow colleagues for working together to serve our passengers. Everyone at Heathrow is doing everything we can to make sure passengers get on their way as smoothly and safely as possible,” said Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye.

Resources at the airport are stretched as the aviation sector is rebuilding capacity in preparation for summer. Heathrow is working with the Border Force to make sure that necessary resources are available to deal with the inflow of passengers returning to the United Kingdom during the next few weeks, the airport said.

The Heathrow numbers come as the UK government recently released its gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for February 2022, pegging it at 0.1 percent growth following a measurement of 0.8 percent growth in January, an April 11 press release by the Office for National Statistics stated.

The main driver of GDP was the services sector, which grew by 0.2 percent. Production fell by 0.6 percent and construction by 0.1 percent.

“The services growth in February 2022 was mainly driven by tourism-related industries with increases in both travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities (growing 33.1 percent on the month), and accommodation (growing 23 percent on the month),” the release said.

The monthly GDP is presently 1.5 percent above the pre-pandemic level, while the service sector is now 2.1 percent above.