Club Meeting

On Thursday 3rd March, President Derek Clark welcomed members and guests to a Zoom meeting of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry. The speaker, introduced by Kate Gibb, was Fraser Brown, Head of Retail and Property at Heathrow Airport. As Kate mentioned, Fraser is the son of long-standing Rotarian Richard and his wife Eileen. He has spoken to the club several times on aviation-related topics. This time, Fraser gave an insight into how Heathrow Airport has had to adapt and change due to the Covid pandemic. Before the start of the pandemic in 2019, Heathrow was almost at capacity with four terminals open. It is a hub airport and the largest UK airport by value. In 2020 as the impact of Covid became evident in the UK and restrictions were applied, Heathrow reduced its capacity by opening only two terminals and dealing with only a quarter of the normal number of travellers. Twenty twenty-one was a flatter year, but passengers spent more money in retail outlets, perhaps because they were glad to travel again. As new UK travel restrictions were in place, and all other destination countries had their own regulations, check-in took considerably longer than usual. From January 2021, HM Treasury changes the VAT law and Tax Free Shops at airports were abolished. Prices are now the same as on the High Street. Despite a difficult few years, Fraser said Heathrow is looking forward to the challenges of 2022. As people become more confident and want to travel again, Terminal 4 will be open by the summer. Heathrow's third runway is still i9n their fifteen year plan, but how soon this is implemented will depend on how the volume of traffic develops in  this uncertain international climate. research on reducing aircraft emissions is also a major priority for the airport.

In his vote of thanks, Allan Smith congratulated Fraser on a fascinating  presentation on a major airport working in unprecedented conditions.