At least 600,000 passengers cancelled flights from Heathrow in December

At least 600,000 passengers cancelled plans to fly from Heathrow in December due to the Omicron coronavirus strain and the introduction of tougher travel restrictions, the airport said.

Fears over the Covid variant meant that, from late November, all travellers arriving in the UK were required to take a pre-departure lateral flow test and self-isolate until they received a negative result from a post-arrival PCR test.

This led to many people scrapping their travel plans over the festive period.A total of 19.4 million people travelled through the airport across the whole of last year, down 12.3% on 2020.Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: "There are currently travel restrictions, such as testing, on all Heathrow routes."The aviation industry will only fully recover when these are all lifted and there is no risk that they will be reimposed at short notice, a situation which is likely to be years away."

Mr Holland-Kaye added: "The regulator must focus on an outcome that improves service, incentivises growth and maintains affordable private financing."

The CAA increased the cap on Heathrow's price per passenger from £19.60 to £30.19 from 1 January.

Airlines expressed outrage at the decision, claiming the rise was too high.

The CAA is expected to announce a long-term cap running from the summer to 2027 in the coming weeks.