Heathrow Airport has extended its limit of 100,000 passengers a day for another six weeks as the aviation sector continues to struggle to meet rising travel demand amid staff shortages.
The cap was originally due to last until September 11, but that date was pushed back from Monday to October 29, overlapping the autumn half-term break for most the schools
The UK’s busiest airport said the move was made after the introduction of a time limit in July led to improved punctuality and fewer last-minute cancellations.
Central London was one of the hardest hit by the severe disruption that hit airports across the country in mid-May and early summer, with long security queues and baggage system breakdowns.
Heathrow reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of £321m for the first half of the year in July after experiencing weeks of long queues and flight cancellations.
Hundreds of suitcases were filmed piling up at Heathrow in June after problems with the baggage system were reported and many people were forced to travel without their belongings and told they might not get them back until two days
Tens of thousands of flights have already been canceled this summer as the industry struggles to cope with a surge in demand to pre-pandemic levels amid staff shortages. The industry has also been accused of failing to anticipate the recovery after two years of disruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
The consumer rights group What? said the move would leave the plans of thousands of passengers in limbo. Guy Hobbs, its travel editor, described the situation as a “mess” and urged the airport to provide clarity to tourists about flight schedules.
“While the extension of the passenger limit may help Heathrow avoid a repeat of the unacceptable last-minute cancellations we saw earlier this summer, thousands of people will be worried whether their travel plans they could break,” he said.
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“Heathrow and affected airlines must act without delay to provide passengers with clarity about which flights are being cut, and airlines must ensure that affected passengers are aware of their rights to change bookings or reimburse
“The aviation industry and government must ensure that this mess is fixed as soon as possible – passenger limits cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely.”
Heathrow said the cap imposed in July had resulted in “fewer last-minute cancellations” and “shorter waits for bags”.
It added that capacity limits would remain under review and “could be lifted earlier if there was a sustained picture of better resilience and a material increase in resource levels”.
Heathrow Chief Commercial Officer Ross Baker said: “Our main concern is to ensure that we provide our passengers with a reliable service when they travel.
“This is why in July we introduced temporary capacity limits that have already improved travel during the summer break.
“We want to remove the cap as soon as possible, but we can only do that when we are confident that everyone operating at the airport has the resources to provide the service our passengers deserve.”
Heathrow had said it hired 1,300 people in the past six months, adding that it would return to pre-pandemic security staffing levels by the end of July.
The airport said it remained loss-making and did not expect to pay any dividends to its shareholders for the rest of the year, but was offsetting rising costs with higher charges.