Now Heathrow slaps a daily cap on passenger numbers
summer plans of thousands of holidaymakers were thrown into chaos yesterday as Britain’s biggest airport took the unprecedented step of capping passenger numbers.
Heathrow banned daily outbound travellers from exceeding 100,000 over fears airlines can’t safely handle any more because of staff shortages.
The draconian measures took effect immediately and will last until september 11.
Tens of thousands now face their holidays being cancelled. They were left in limbo as airlines worked with airport slot authorities to decide which flights may need axing. Passengers will be notified in the coming days.
The airport ordered uK airlines, such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, to ‘stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers’ because Heathrow was already expecting an average of 104,000 daily outbound passengers over the summer.
But the Daily mail found that both airlines – which mainly operate from the hub – were still selling flights last night to destinations such as the us, Greece and Tenerife for this month.
Of the excess 4,000 expected daily passengers above the cap, about 1,500 seats have been sold.
It means as many as 90,000 passengers between now and september 11 face having holidays cancelled, departure dates moved or flights shifted elsewhere.
Passengers are entitled to be flown on the same day as their booking, but there is no guarantee there will be enough seats.
Heathrow’s move came despite
BA already axing 30,000 flights this summer.
In an open letter to passengers, the airport’s boss John HollandKaye admitted that the service recently received by passengers was not acceptable. But he blamed airlines, which contract check-in and baggage handlers, for most of the chaos.
He said: ‘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.’ BA and Virgin, which are worst affected, have said they will give customers the option of a refund, as well as being re-booked on alternative flights.
Former BA boss Willie Walsh, who runs the International Air
Transport Association, said: ‘I am surprised Heathrow have not been able to get their act together better than this.
‘Airlines have been predicting stronger traffic than Heathrow has been predicting... they clearly got it completely wrong.
‘To tell airlines to stop selling – what a ridiculous thing for an airport to say to an airline.’
mr Walsh added: ‘Heathrow are trying to maximise the profitability that they get from the airport at the expense of airlines.’
‘No guarantee of enough seats’