Heathrow passengers may have to fly outside peak times in run-up to Christmas
Heathrow has said that passengers may have to fly outside peak times on some of the busiest days in the run-up to Christmas to avoid further travel chaos, as Europe’s busiest airport admitted it is still short of 25,000 staff to meet demand at peak times.
The airport, which this Sunday is due to lift the current cap of 100,000 passengers a day that was introduced in July as summer holiday travel descended into chaos, said it was in talks with airlines over the selective cap.
It is understood that Heathrow is in discussions with airlines about looking at retiming flights out of morning peak time – when most passengers prefer to get away – to quieter afternoon slots if the airport needs to manage the festive travel rush.
“We are working with airlines to agree a highly targeted mechanism that, if needed, would align supply and demand on a small number of peak days in the lead-up to Christmas,” Heathrow said.
“This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures.” Heathrow said passenger numbers were likely to hit 60-62 million this year, 25% lower than in 2019.
The airport does not expect a return to pre-pandemic levels of demand for “a number of years”, except at peak times, because of a combination of worsening global economic conditions, the war in Ukraine and the impact of Covid-19 on travel habits.
John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow, said that the 100,000 cap had enabled Heathrow to manage 18 million passenger journeys over the summer, taking Heathrow from being “one of the quietest airports in Europe to the busiest”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We don’t want to have a cap at all. We want to get back to full capacity as soon as possible. But the reason for having a cap is to make sure we have supply and demand in balance.”
The London hub said it was still some way from being able to cope with peak periods of travel demand. “Our priority is to build back the airport ecosystem to meet demand at peak times,” Heathrow said. “To do so, businesses across the airport need to recruit and train up to 25,000 security-cleared people – a huge logistical challenge.”
The airport said it had established a recruitment taskforce to help fill vacancies, and was working with the government on a review of airline ground handling, after passengers had to wait for hours for their luggage during the summer holidays.
The company said losses had hit £400m in the year to the end of September, adding to the £4bn racked up over the previous two years.
“We have lifted the summer cap and are working with airlines and their ground handlers to get back to full capacity at peak times as soon as possible,” Holland-Kaye said.