Heathrow to keep passenger cap until end of October

FILE PHOTO: Lines of passenger luggage lie arranged outside Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London
Lines of luggage outside terminal two at Heathrow
REUTERS
Robert Dex @RobDexES15 August 2022

Heathrow Airport says it will extend its cap on daily passenger numbers until the end of October as it tries to cope with soaring demand amid staffing shortages.

The airport, one of Europe’s busiest, said a maximum of 100,000 travelers can depart each day until Oct. 29.

The daily cap was initially expected to be lifted on Sept. 11.

Heathrow imposed the temporary limit in July and told airlines to stop selling tickets during the peak summer travel season, saying the expected passenger traffic was more than airport ground staff could handle.

The airport said its temporary cap had resulted in “fewer last-minute cancellations” and “shorter waits for bags.”

It added the capacity limits would be kept under review and “could be lifted earlier should there be a sustained picture of better resilience and a material increase in resourcing levels.”

Scores of summer flights into and departing from Heathrow have already been cancelled in recent months, and passengers have reported long waits at security, lost luggage and lengthy flight delays.

Booming demand for summer travel after two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions have overwhelmed European airlines and airports, which had laid off tens of thousands of pilots, cabin crew, check-in staff, ground crew and baggage handlers as the industry ground to a halt during the pandemic.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in