Heathrow Airport says UK quarantine is strangling economy

London’s Heathrow blamed the U.K. government for July traffic figures that show scant evidence of a recovery in demand at what’s normally Europe’s busiest travel hub.

The imposition of a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from countries with high Covid-19 infection rates means Britain is effectively cut off from markets including the U.S., Canada and Singapore, Heathrow said in a release Tuesday.

Chief Executive Officer John Holland-Kaye said the quarantine policy “continues to strangle the U.K. economy,” with tens of thousands of jobs being lost. He repeated calls for the government to adopt coronavirus testing at the airport to free up travel while guarding against a new wave of the pandemic.

Heathrow’s passenger tally was down almost 89% last month compared with July 2019, the airport said, while three-fifths of the usual route network remained grounded. More than half those who did travel ventured to quarantine-free European destinations, it said. June traffic had dropped 95%.