The airport is predicting a strong rebound this year despite lingering headwinds, driven by "a surge of Brits heading for summer sun".

Passenger numbers at Heathrow fell to just 19.4 million last year (year to 31 December), the lowest level since 1972. It claims to be the only European hub airport to have experienced a reduction in traffic last year, citing "tighter travel restrictions than EU countries".

Cumulative losses owing to the pandemic, meanwhile, have now risen to £3.8 billion – even after achieving cost savings running to £870 million over the past two years.

Heathrow has nonetheless insisted its balance sheet is strong with £4 billion cash to support its recovery.

While passenger numbers are currently 23% behind its forecast owing to "lower than expected" January and February traffic, Heathrow is confident of a "strong summer for outbound tourism".

"We are expecting a surge of Brits heading for summer sun and are working with our airline partners to ramp up operations to ensure they have a great experience at Heathrow, including reopening Terminal 4 by July," said Heathrow. "We expect to meet our 2022 target of 45.5 million passengers."

Despite the UK’s Covid testing requirements being eased, inbound tourism and business travel "remain key challenges" according to Heathrow – suppressed by testing rules in other countries.

"63% of our markets retain some form of travel restriction or testing requirements, and government responses to Omicron show how uncertain broader travel demand remains," said Heathrow.

"We don’t expect travel to return to pre-pandemic levels until all restrictions have been removed, passengers can travel with no checks and are confident they will not be reimposed."

Heathrow, though, believes its case for expansion has been strengthened by the pandemic, although it has pledged to review its plans for expansion over the course of the next year.

‘Scaling up’

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow chief executive, said the airport was eager to move on from 2021, which he described as "the worst year in Heathrow’s history".

"Demand is now starting to recover and we are working closely with airlines to scale up our operations and reopen Terminal 4 for the summer travel peak," he said. "We’re excited to welcome more passengers back to Heathrow to experience the joys of travel and get Britain’s economy firing on all cylinders again.

"To deliver this, we have outlined an investment plan for the next five years which meets the needs of passengers, drives fast traffic recovery and incentivises investment in a critical national asset, while keeping the increase in ticket prices below 2% despite significantly fewer passengers."

Holland-Kaye, though, took Wednesday’s full-year results announcement to send another guarded message to the CAA over its long-term settlement for Heathrow with regards to passenger fees, warning it needs to be able to raise them sufficiently to maintain standards.

"I am anxious the CAA will undercook the investment needed to avoid the return of ‘Heathrow hassle’ with longer queues and delays," said Holland-Kaye.