Heathrow Airport extends passenger caps through October

Blog
Heathrow Airport extends passenger caps through October | Secret Flying

Heathrow extends passenger limits to October.

 

London’s Heathrow airport has extended its 100,000 passenger a day cap for another six weeks as the aviation industry continues to struggle to meet increased demand for travel due to staff shortages.

 

The airport said it will continue to limit the airport’s capacity through October 29. Previously, the daily cap was due to end on September 11.

 

The airport said on Monday that without the cap extension, it will not be able to safely and reliably handle its flight schedule.

 

Heathrow pointed to the lack of ground handling crews as a key problem in resuming normal services.

 

“We want to remove the cap as soon as possible, but we can only do so when we are confident that everyone operating at the airport has the resources to deliver the service our passengers deserve,” Heathrow’s COO, Ross Baker, said in a press statement.

 

According to air travel intelligence company OAG, some 761,756 people passed through Heathrow the week of May 16, 2022. That was the first time that Heathrow had scooped the title of the world’s busiest airport since the start of the pandemic –  a title Heathrow is not ready for.

 

Thousands of jobs were lost in the aviation industry during the pandemic, when travel restrictions saw most flights grounded – and now there is a race to recruit new workers to accommodate the resurgence of holidaymakers.

 

Hundreds of suitcases were filmed piled up at Heathrow over the summer after issues were reported with the baggage system and many people were forced to travel without their belongings and were told they may not get them back for up to two days.

 

The capacity limits have been a “mixed bag” for summer travellers, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research.

 

“Maybe some lines have gone down,” he said, “but travellers don’t have the selection of flights that they otherwise would.”

 

“I’m certainly hoping that we see the seat cap end before October,” he added. “The sooner it ends, I think better for everybody: for airlines, for the airport itself and of course for travellers.”