[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Last month, London Heathrow Airport in the UK recorded 4.3 million passengers, marking the highest number since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to major foreign media reports on the 11th (local time).
As the UK government lifted COVID-19 related lockdown measures, the number of passengers at Heathrow Airport last month surged to seven times that of the same month last year.
John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow Airport, said, "We are seeing Heathrow Airport come back to life after two years," calling it "fantastic."
The aviation industry is facing challenges. With the rapid increase in airport passengers, there is an urgent need to secure manpower.
During the two years when COVID-19 spread, the aviation industry reduced tens of thousands of employees. They now need to rehire the laid-off staff, but recruitment is not happening fast enough to handle the surge in passenger numbers. Procedures such as verifying COVID-19 infection status have become more complicated amid the manpower shortage.
Heathrow Airport expects passenger numbers this summer to approach pre-pandemic levels of 2019 and stated it will secure manpower as quickly as possible. Heathrow plans to employ 12,000 people.
However, factors such as high oil prices, new COVID-19 variants, and the Ukraine war are expected to pose variables to the recovery of travel demand.
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