Air arrivals down 87% on pre-Covid levels - UK

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

Air travel to the UK continues to be severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show.

Just 1.4 million airline passengers arrived in the country last month, according to Home Office data.

That was up 14% on the figure of 1.3 million in July 2020, but 87% lower than the 11.2 million arrivals during the same month in 2019.

Some 54% of arrivals last month were British nationals.

The total number of arrivals between April 2020 and July 2021 was 90% lower than pre-pandemic levels.

The travel sector has been badly hit by the fall in demand, with thousands of jobs lost.

It has urged the Government to ease and simplify quarantine and testing requirements for arriving travellers.

The latest update to the green, amber and red travel lists is expected to be announced on Thursday.