Travelers queue at security at Heathrow Airport in London
(Picture: AP)Heathrow has announced a cap of 100,000 daily passengers throughout the summer and has asked airlines to stop selling summer tickets.
Its CEO, John Holland-Kaye, said the move was necessary because of increased numbers of passengers exceeding the capacity of airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport.
What has been announced?
Mr Holland-Kaye said forecasting predicted daily departing seats over the summer will average 104,000 seats.
About 1,500 of those 4,000 extra seats above capacity had already been sold to passengers, he said, so the airport was asking airlines to stop selling more summer tickets. This is likely to also mean some flight cancellations or rebookings as a result of the cap.
Which airlines will be affected?
Among the airlines which could be affected by the move will be British Airways, which operates more than half of departures at Heathrow in normal times, according to some estimates.
BA has not yet commented publicly on Heathrow’s decision, but officials were locked in meetings on Tuesday to discuss how to respond.
Other major airlines operating out of Heathrow include Virgin Atlantic, KLM, Lufhansa and Aer Lingus among others.
However it is not yet clear which airlines will be most affected by potential flight cancellations as a result of the capacity cap.
How might my flight be affected?
Airlines now have the option of either running some flights that are not fully sold, or cancelling flights and rebooking passengers onto alternative flights.
This means some passengers are likely to be moved to another flight, on the same day, or a different day, or a flight from another airport.
However, it remains unclear how this will work in practice with the capacity cap and high demand at other airports.
Because the cause of any cancellation is beyond the airline’s control, no cash compensation is being paid.
Why is this happening?
Mr Holland-Kaye said the move was necessary now because there has been nearly 40 years of passenger growth in just four months at Heathrow amid strong post-pandemic demand.
He said that the airport’s staff were “learning fast, but are not yet up to speed”, but suggested that a significant issue was the lack of ground handlers.
These are staff contracted by airlines, not the airport, to provide check-in services, load and unload bags, and to turn around aircraft.
“This is a significant constraint to the airport's overall capacity,” he said.
He also suggested that some airlines, without naming them, had not taken enough action to reduce their schedules despite an ‘amnesty’ from ministers for airlines to remove slots from schedules without penalty.
