Heathrow Airport warns of jobs risk if no aviation recovery

LONDON (Reuters) - Heathrow Airport's CEO warned that up to a third of the 75,000 jobs across the airport could be at risk if the aviation sector does not recover, after passenger numbers at the London hub fell 81.5% in August because of COVID-19-related travel restrictions.

"Furlough is going to be a cliff edge when that comes to an end at the end of October," CEO John Holland-Kaye told Sky News on Friday.

"I think that there's at least a third of those jobs are at risk if we don't see the aviation sector recovery."

Heathrow, Britain's biggest airport, employs about 7,000 employees directly but about 75,000 work for different companies across the airport.

(Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)