London's Heathrow airport reports lowest passenger count since 1972

A file photo of passengers at Heathrow Airport in 2020. Britain’s busiest airport only recorded 19.4 million passenger numbers last year. — Reuters

London's Heathrow airport, Britain’s busiest, saw its lowest number of passengers since 1972 last year and suffered wider losses as the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand for business travel and holidays.

Passenger numbers fell to 19.4 million in 2021. Heathrow also recorded a pretax loss of £1.79bil (RM10.05bil) for 2021, taking total losses during the pandemic to £3.8bil (RM21.39bil) due to the drop in passengers and high fixed costs.