Portugal was moved straight from green to amber status earlier this week, with the aviation minister  justifying the decision in the House of Commons on Thursday (10 June) when he said they had to “take swift action”.

Heathrow said the system “has yet to achieve what it was designed to do” and criticised the government’s failure to provide “transparency on the data behind the decision making”.

“At the next review on 28 June, the government must rely on the science and restart travel to low-risk countries like the US, clear a pathway to restriction-free travel for vaccinated passengers and replace expensive PCR tests with lateral flow for low-risk arrivals,” said the airport in a statement.

It also urged the government to create a “bespoke support plan for the beleaguered and neglected travel industry” as the airport’s passenger traffic remains 90% below pre-Covid 2019 levels.

Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye added: “With the G7 starting today (11 June), ministers have a chance to kick-start the green global recovery by agreeing how to resume international travel safely and setting a mandate for sustainable aviation fuels that will decarbonise aviation.  

“This is the time for them to show global leadership.”