Heathrow Airport: Apology to passengers for travel chaos as ranked worst airport | Travel News | Travel

Passengers at Heathrow Airport have faced “long queues” and “delays” in recent weeks. The travel chaos was not “acceptable” according to the airport.

It said: “Despite our best efforts there have been periods in recent weeks, where service levels have not been acceptable, with long queue times, delays for passengers with reduced mobility, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, and we want to apologise for any passengers who have been affected by this.”

In June, many Britons had to fly without luggage as a huge baggage mountain built up at the airport.

Heathrow Airport said it has spent time rebuilding staff capacity after the pandemic shut down.

READ MORE: Flight attendant explains ‘how to ask’ for free food and drinks

It said: “We started recruiting back in November last year in anticipation of capacity recovering this summer, and by the end of July we will have as many people working in security as we had pre-pandemic.

“We have also reopened Terminal 4 to provide more space for passengers.

“Rebuilding capacity quickly is very challenging after the significant reductions in resources across the entire aviation supply chain.

“Arrivals punctuality is very low as a result of delays at other airports and airspace congestion across Europe and this has compounded the challenge of resource constraints for the airport, airlines, ground handlers and Government agencies.”

DON’T MISS

Heathrow boss, John Holland-Kaye, added: “Last month, we saw exponential growth in passenger numbers as nearly six million people got away, the equivalent of 40 years of growth in just four months.

“I am very proud of the way that our team is rising to the challenge of growth, and giving excellent service to the vast majority of passengers.

“However, we have already seen times recently when demand exceeds the capacity of the airport, airlines and ground handlers.

“We will review the schedule changes that airlines have submitted in response to the Government’s requirement to minimise disruption for passengers this summer and will ask them to take further action if necessary.

“We want everyone who is travelling through Heathrow to be confident that they will have a safe and reliable journey.”