British Airways will cut around 10,000 short-haul flights from Heathrow between late October and March, the airline has announced.
In a statement released on Monday, the airline said it would axe the flights to minimise disruption for travellers over the winter period.
Heathrow, the main hub for BA, in July announced a cap on passenger numbers at the airport due to staff shortages. No more than 100,000 travellers will be able to depart per day until October 29.
BA said that nearly a dozen round-trips would be cancelled every day until the end of October - amounting to 629 flights in total.
Around 5,000 BA short-haul flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airport have also been cancelled over the winter period - around 8% of the airline's flights up to March 2023.
The airline stressed that the impact on customers would be “minimal” and that the majority of flights would not be affected.
"Customers booked for winter will be able to travel as planned and are being given several months' notice of any changes," a spokesperson said.
Tens of thousands of flights have already been cancelled this summer as the industry struggles to cope with the demand for air travel amid staffing shortages.
Many passengers flying to and from the UK’s busiest airport have suffered severe disruption in recent months, with long security queues and baggage system breakdowns.
Heathrow claimed the cap had resulted in “fewer last-minute cancellations” and “shorter waits for bags”.
Ministers have made it easier for airlines to reduce capacity by introducing a “slot amnesty” last month. This enables airlines to temporarily reduce their schedules but still retain their slots for the next year.
A spokesman for the airline said: “Following Heathrow’s decision to extend its passenger cap we’re making adjustments to our short-haul schedule for the next two months.
“While the vast majority of our customers will travel as planned and we’re protecting key holiday destinations over half-term, we will need to make some further cancellations up to the end of October.
“In addition, we’re giving customers travelling with us this winter notice of some adjustments to our schedule, which will include consolidating some of our short-haul flights to destinations with multiple services. We’ll be offering customers affected by any of these changes an alternative flight with British Airways or another airline or the option of a refund.”
BA flight capacity has been reduced overall by around 13% between May and October this year.
Aviation data company Cirium said the extension off the passenger cap at Heathrow will lead to a reduction in capacity of more than one million seats, from 5.9 million to 4.8 million.
Last week, Heathrow chief commercial officer Ross Baker said the airport wanted to remove the cap “as soon as possible” but could only do so when they were confident that they had the resources to “deliver the service our passengers deserve”.
Earlier this month, BA suspended selling short-haul flights from Heathrow in response to the request to limit new bookings.
Other airlines are also expected to make cancellations over the next two months.
