(Reuters) -Britain’s Heathrow Airport Ltd stated Tuesday that it is still experiencing losses and doesn’t expect to see air traffic recover fully until 2026, despite the fact that the industry gained steam during the third quarter of easing restrictions.

London Airport reported passenger numbers to be at 28% for the third quarter and 90% for cargo, despite having lost 4.68 billion pounds (3.4 billion pounds) in total since the beginning of the pandemic.

Heathrow has been unable to retain its position as Europe’s busiest hub due to the pandemic. The airport has attempted to recover its losses by increasing its airline charges.

Heathrow was told last week by the UK aviation regulator that it would not be permitted raise its passenger charges as much as it desired. But airlines opposed the size of the increase, as they struggle to recover from pandemic losses.

Heathrow released a statement Tuesday saying that “the CAA’s Initial Proposals (Civil Aviation Authority’s) don’t go far enough for investors to realize a fair return.”

According to the airport’s owners, Ferrovial of Spain, Qatar Investment Authority, and China Investment Corp, its shareholders achieved negative real returns over the past 15 years.

Heathrow was Britain’s most important airport. It said that until the market recovers, it had 4.1 million pounds of cash.

($1 = 0.7272 pounds)