Heathrow Airport has claimed it has suffered a 90,000 decline in passenger numbers on routes affected by a new £10-per-person government scheme.

Bosses described the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system, which was introduced by the Conservative government in November 2023, as “devastating for our hub competitiveness”.

The digital permits are required for nationals of seven Middle Eastern countries who do not have a visa or legal residence but wish to enter or transit through the UK.

The £10 fee applies to every affected traveller, including children and babies.

The programme is scheduled to be extended to travellers from most of the rest of the world this autumn.

But Heathrow has now urged the new Labour administration to reform the scheme for the good of the “whole UK economy”.

It said in a statement: “The latest data following the introduction of the ETA shows that Heathrow has lost 90,000 transfer passengers on routes operating to and from the seven countries included in the scheme, since its introduction in 2023.

“This is devastating for our hub competitiveness. We urge government to review the inclusion of airside transit passengers.

“Every little bit of extra competitiveness that government can deliver for aviation will help deliver vital growth for the whole of the UK economy.”

ETAs currently apply to affected non-visa nationals of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

They will be introduced for travellers from most other countries this autumn and for European nationals from early next year.

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It came as Heathrow reported it had been used by a total of nearly eight million passengers in July, making it Europe’s busiest airport in the first half of the year.

Bosses also said the west London airport had “performed well with no material impacts on flights” from issues such as the global IT outage or Just Stop Oil protests.

The airport announced last month that despite a fall in half-year revenues of 2.9%, it achieved an underlying profit of £178m, up from a £139m loss a year earlier.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are introducing ETAs to enhance border security and modernise the experience for travellers.

“The government is continuing to keep the requirement for transit passengers to obtain an ETA under review.”

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