Qantas has been forced to reschedule two flights from London Heathrow Airport this week, following the airport’s decision to impose a limit of 100,000 passengers per day in hopes of easing congestion in the middle. of prolonged delays.
The QF2 London-Singapore-Sydney service will now depart nine hours earlier than usual, at 12 noon, and from Heathrow Terminal 4 instead of the usual Terminal 3, to avoid colliding passengers at rush hour.
However, this will cause hundreds of Airbus A380 superjumbo passengers to face off on an 11-hour stopover in Singapore, and Qantas says it will offer accommodation to passengers, before the flight continues to Sydney on its usual schedule.
The airline says it will contact all passengers booked on Tuesday’s QF2 flight to notify them of these changes.
“Like all airlines, we are disappointed with the decisions taken by Heathrow Airport to suddenly reduce passenger capacity and we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of this on our customers,” said one Qantas spokesman for Executive Traveler.
“We have two flights a day to London and we want to preserve them at any cost, as people’s travel plans are at stake.”
“We have managed to negotiate an alternative solution that is not perfect, but that will take our customers to their destination. We continue to work with Heathrow to improve this situation.”
The departure of flight QF10 from London-Perth on Sunday was delayed by three hours due to the directive from Heathrow Airport.
At the time of writing, these are one-off changes, rather than an ongoing re-season of Qantas ’two flagship flights on the Kangaroo Route.
Airlines are struggling to reduce flights
The introduction of passenger limits by Heathrow Airport from July 12 to September 11, amid staff shortages and growing travel demand, caused airlines to collapse during the high season of travel.
Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye says the reduction of about 4,000 passengers a day will give travelers “confidence that everyone traveling through the airport will have a safe and reliable journey and arrive at the airport. their destiny with their suitcases “.
British Airways was one of the first airlines to reduce its capacity, eliminating a number of flights for the summer season, with Virgin Atlantic quickly joining the sacrifice.
Qantas partner Emirates initially rejected the airport’s sudden demands in an energetic statement, saying the “airmageddon” situation at the airport was the result of the centre’s own incompetence. However, he has since stepped back and cut back on schedules to accommodate them.
Following talks between the President of the Emirates and the CEO of Heathrow, the Gulf airline says it is now “willing to work with the airport to rectify the situation over the next two weeks, maintaining demand and capacity. in balance and offer passengers a quiet and reliable journey through Heathrow this summer. “
Flying six times a day between London and Dubai with its A380, Emirates has agreed to limit sales of its flights from Heathrow to mid-August, giving the center a chance to increase resources.
Qantas flights twice a day between Australia and Heathrow carry a maximum of 1442 passengers, representing only 1.4% of the total number of passengers below the airport limit.
Heathrow has struggled to cope with the growing demand for summer travel in recent weeks, with reports of more than three hours of waiting on the carousel and many passengers arriving at their destination to find their luggage not even they flew up.
As a result, many passengers are turning to the use of high-tech tracking devices to monitor their belongings.