Heathrow, which this Sunday is due to lift the current cap of 100,000 passengers a day that was introduced in July as summer holiday travel descended into chaos, said it was in talks with airlines over the cap.
It is understood that Heathrow is discussing retiming flights from morning peak time – when most passengers prefer to get away – to quieter afternoon slots if the airport needs to manage the festive travel rush.
“We are working with airlines to agree a highly targeted mechanism that, if needed, would align supply and demand on a small number of peak days in the lead-up to Christmas,” Heathrow said. “This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures.”
Heathrow has said passenger numbers were likely to hit 60-62 million this year, 25% lower than in 2019. Britain’s hub airport does not expect a return to pre-pandemic levels of demand for “a number of years”, except at peak times, because of a combination of worsening global economic conditions, the war in Ukraine and the impact of Covid-19 on travel habits.
In 2019, a record 81 million passengers used Heathrow, a level its chief executive predicts will not be reached until 2025 or 2026.
To be frank, it’s genuinely embarrassing that, once again, London Heathrow Airport is hinting at the return or extension of its daily passenger cap restriction, unlike almost every other hub airport on earth.
Heathrow continues to be the only major airport essentially ‘afraid’ of passengers flying as they used to prior to the pandemic, and despite the CEO John Holland-Kaye spending the worst of the pandemic on breakfast TV begging passengers to return to his terminals, the airport has been simply unable to function properly ever since - and the restriction on departing passengers has been extended, and extended, and extended throughout 2022.
Major foreign airlines have branded the latest hints from Heathrow as ‘pathetic’, and for passengers it causes uncertainty over flights already booked for the holiday periods such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. If airlines are forced once again to comply with an extended cap, it will result in flight cancellations and rescheduled trips which can seriously inconvenience passengers, especially those with connecting flights as is common during the festive period.
“Our priority is to build back the airport ecosystem to meet demand at peak times,” Heathrow said. “To do so, businesses across the airport need to recruit and train up to 25,000 security-cleared people – a huge logistical challenge.”
If this is Heathrow’s ‘new normal’ and the plan is to end the cap on 31 October, only to resume it at some point in November, you must wonder why the airport isn’t declaring an extension of the cap from now which would at least give airlines more time to inform passengers of altered travel arrangements.
Virgin Atlantic urged the airport to avoid passenger capacity limits during the Christmas travel window "that would ruin customer plans".
"Virgin Atlantic remains ready to deliver a full winter schedule and we expect Heathrow to do the same," the airline said.
It is understood that Heathrow is discussing retiming flights from morning peak time – when most passengers prefer to get away – to quieter afternoon slots if the airport needs to manage the festive travel rush.
“We are working with airlines to agree a highly targeted mechanism that, if needed, would align supply and demand on a small number of peak days in the lead-up to Christmas,” Heathrow said. “This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures.”
Heathrow has said passenger numbers were likely to hit 60-62 million this year, 25% lower than in 2019. Britain’s hub airport does not expect a return to pre-pandemic levels of demand for “a number of years”, except at peak times, because of a combination of worsening global economic conditions, the war in Ukraine and the impact of Covid-19 on travel habits.
In 2019, a record 81 million passengers used Heathrow, a level its chief executive predicts will not be reached until 2025 or 2026.
To be frank, it’s genuinely embarrassing that, once again, London Heathrow Airport is hinting at the return or extension of its daily passenger cap restriction, unlike almost every other hub airport on earth.
Heathrow continues to be the only major airport essentially ‘afraid’ of passengers flying as they used to prior to the pandemic, and despite the CEO John Holland-Kaye spending the worst of the pandemic on breakfast TV begging passengers to return to his terminals, the airport has been simply unable to function properly ever since - and the restriction on departing passengers has been extended, and extended, and extended throughout 2022.
Major foreign airlines have branded the latest hints from Heathrow as ‘pathetic’, and for passengers it causes uncertainty over flights already booked for the holiday periods such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. If airlines are forced once again to comply with an extended cap, it will result in flight cancellations and rescheduled trips which can seriously inconvenience passengers, especially those with connecting flights as is common during the festive period.
“Our priority is to build back the airport ecosystem to meet demand at peak times,” Heathrow said. “To do so, businesses across the airport need to recruit and train up to 25,000 security-cleared people – a huge logistical challenge.”
If this is Heathrow’s ‘new normal’ and the plan is to end the cap on 31 October, only to resume it at some point in November, you must wonder why the airport isn’t declaring an extension of the cap from now which would at least give airlines more time to inform passengers of altered travel arrangements.
Virgin Atlantic urged the airport to avoid passenger capacity limits during the Christmas travel window "that would ruin customer plans".
"Virgin Atlantic remains ready to deliver a full winter schedule and we expect Heathrow to do the same," the airline said.
The author is an aviation analyst. Twitter handle: @AlexInAir