London Heathrow: Gov Scheme Cost 90k Transfers

DALLAS — According to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), it has 90,000 fewer number of transfer passengers on routes covered by a £10 per-person travel authorization government program.

The UK's busiest's hub said the the government's electronic travel authorization (ETA) system was "devastating" for its hub competitiveness.

ETAs were instituted by the Conservative government in November 2023 for anybody coming or passing through the UK without a valid visa or place of residency.

Purpose of the ETA

The UK introduced the ETA, a digital authorization to enter the UK, to fortify border security and it has been implemented as part of the UK government's digitization and restructuring of the UK border.

As per the Home Office definition, these ETAs are there to "enable a more efficient customer experience and cement the UK as a world leader in border security."

The ETA program is primarily for travelers who do not require a visa for brief visits to the UK or who do not hold a UK immigration status at the time of travel. These include nationals of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

In short, the ETAs are meant to increase the government's "knowledge about those seeking to come to the UK and prevent the arrival of those who present a threat."

The initiative is slated to launch early next year for travelers from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland, but it is slated to be expanded to the rest of the world this September 2025.

Every Bit of Competitive Edge

However, LHR quotes data following the introduction of the ETA that shows it has lost 90,000 transfer passengers on routes operating to and from the seven countries included in the scheme, since its introduction in 2023.

Despite posting record passenger numbers, the airport is asking the government to examine the inclusion of airside transit passengers policy in lieu of having every bit of competitive edge available to the UK's primary hub. As per an LHR release:

• Almost 8 million passengers travelled through LHR in July, seeing the UK’s hub retain gold spot on the podium as the busiest airport in Europe in the first half of the year - ahead of Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), Frankfurt (FRA), Madrid (MAD) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) by millions of passengers  

• Before July 2024, LHR had never surpassed 1.8m passengers in a week. This has now been achieved three weeks in a row (08 – 28 July), as the airport continues to break its own records