Heathrow Airport introduces daily cap of 100,000 passengers until September | Travel News | Travel
The cap will last until September 11 as Heathrow struggles to cope with demand. Passengers have faced long queues and chaotic scenes in recent weeks.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “Over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have regularly exceeded 100,000 a day, we have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable: long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.
“This is due to a combination of reduced arrivals punctuality (as a result of delays at other airports and in European airspace) and increased passenger numbers starting to exceed the combined capacity of airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport.
“Our colleagues are going above and beyond to get as many passengers away as possible, but we cannot put them at risk for their own safety and wellbeing.”
Heathrow has told airlines to stop selling summer tickets as around 4,000 seats per day will be cut.
Holland-Kaye said only around 1,500 of the 4,000 seats had already been sold for summer.
He said: “We are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers.
“By making this intervention now, our objective is to protect flights for the vast majority of passengers at Heathrow this summer and to give confidence that everyone who does travel through the airport will have a safe and reliable journey and arrive at their destination with their bags.
“We recognise that this will mean some summer journeys will either be moved to another day, another airport or be cancelled and we apologise to those whose travel plans are affected.”
Michael Foote, Editor in Chief of Quotegoat.com said: “This is incredibly frustrating for travellers and their families.
“If your flight is cancelled you should be asked whether you want a full refund or to re-book on an alternative flight.
“The airline should cover the cost of transport if you need to travel from a different airport to catch your replacement flight.
Recent statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority revealed that Heathrow is the third worst airport in the UK for delays.
British Airways passengers could be impacted by the announcement as the flag carrier operates from Heathrow.
BA has already cut thousands of flights for the summer season as it struggled to cope with heavy demand.
Other airports such as Birmingham, Gatwick, Manchester and Bristol have also had issues this year.
