London: LondonK Heathrow said it would drop 100,000 passengers a day this summer to limit passenger queues, baggage delays and cancellations, and it was asking airlines to stop selling tickets for those flights that could be reduced.
Britain’s busiest airport, like others across Europe, is struggling to cope with a slump in demand after the pandemic. Heathrow saw 110,000 to 125,000 daily passenger departures in July and August 2019.
Airlines at Heathrow had already responded to a government appeal for capacity cuts, but the airport said they needed to go further.
CEO John Holland-Kaye said in an open letter on Tuesday, “Some airlines have taken significant action, but others have not, and we believe further action is needed to ensure passengers’ safe and reliable travel.” Is.”
“That’s why we have taken the difficult decision of implementing the capacity cap from July 12 to September 11.”
“We believe this will mean that some summer trips will either be moved to another airport, or canceled, and we apologize to those whose travel plans have been affected,” he said. ,” They said.
The London hub said the cap is in line with the limits imposed on its competitors. in Schiphol Netherlands Passenger numbers are down about 16% from 2019 levels, while frankfurt Flights have been reduced from 104 per hour to 94 during peak hours.
Heathrow said the summer schedule still had an average number of outbound seats at 104,000 per day, 4,000 more than its limit. It said that out of these 4,000 seats, an average of 1,500 were sold to passengers.
“We are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers,” he said.
Heathrow’s biggest customer British Airways has already cut thousands of flights from its schedule this summer due to staff shortages.
Heathrow on Monday apologized for the long queues and baggage issues that customers have suffered in recent weeks, blaming staff shortages across the aviation sector.
Britain’s busiest airport, like others across Europe, is struggling to cope with a slump in demand after the pandemic. Heathrow saw 110,000 to 125,000 daily passenger departures in July and August 2019.
Airlines at Heathrow had already responded to a government appeal for capacity cuts, but the airport said they needed to go further.
CEO John Holland-Kaye said in an open letter on Tuesday, “Some airlines have taken significant action, but others have not, and we believe further action is needed to ensure passengers’ safe and reliable travel.” Is.”
“That’s why we have taken the difficult decision of implementing the capacity cap from July 12 to September 11.”
“We believe this will mean that some summer trips will either be moved to another airport, or canceled, and we apologize to those whose travel plans have been affected,” he said. ,” They said.
The London hub said the cap is in line with the limits imposed on its competitors. in Schiphol Netherlands Passenger numbers are down about 16% from 2019 levels, while frankfurt Flights have been reduced from 104 per hour to 94 during peak hours.
Heathrow said the summer schedule still had an average number of outbound seats at 104,000 per day, 4,000 more than its limit. It said that out of these 4,000 seats, an average of 1,500 were sold to passengers.
“We are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers,” he said.
Heathrow’s biggest customer British Airways has already cut thousands of flights from its schedule this summer due to staff shortages.
Heathrow on Monday apologized for the long queues and baggage issues that customers have suffered in recent weeks, blaming staff shortages across the aviation sector.