Heathrow Airport in London said it would cap departures at 100,000 per day this summer to reduce queues, baggage delays, and cancellations, and it had asked airlines to stop selling tickets for flights that might be cancelled.
Britain’s busiest airport, like others across Europe, is struggling to keep up with increased demand following the pandemic. In July and August 2019, Heathrow had between 110,000 and 125,000 daily passenger departures.
Heathrow’s airlines had already responded to a government request to reduce capacity, but the airport said it needed them to go even further.
‘Some airlines have taken significant action, but others have not,’ CEO John Holland-Kaye wrote in an open letter on Tuesday.
‘As a result, we have made the difficult decision to implement a capacity cap from July 12 to September 11.’
‘We recognise that some summer journeys will be moved to another day, another airport, or cancelled as a result of this, and we apologise to those whose travel plans are affected,’ he added.
The London hub stated that the cap was in line with limits implemented by its competitors. Schiphol in the Netherlands has reduced passenger numbers by about 16% compared to 2019, while Frankfurt has reduced peak-hour flights from 104 to 94.
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