Sometimes there are winners and losers in contests you didn’t really think anyone was taking seriously, but airport rankings turn out to be one that for some people is serious indeed.
Just recently Paris Charles de Gaulle edged past London Heathrow as the busiest airport in Europe, though neither is all that busy just now due to the pandemic, and Heathrow bosses are using the statistical challenge as an argument against Britain’s Covid-19 policies, claiming that Britain’s rules have kept passengers away.
According to Heathrow head John Holland-Kaye “Paris has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s largest airport for the first time ever, and Frankfurt and Amsterdam are quickly gaining ground. Britain is falling behind because we’ve been too slow to embrace passenger testing. European leaders acted quicker and now their economies are reaping the benefits.”
It’s far from clear that quarantine and testing rules are the actual cause of Holland-Kaye’s distress, but the loss of business has cost the airport £1.5 billion in losses through the first nine months of the year.
