Anger as ‘ludicrous’ Heathrow cap grounds Asian travel plans
FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS HIT PASSENGERS AND BUSINESSES DURING PEAK HOLIDAY AND WEDDING SEASON
THE summer holiday plans of Britons hoping to visit south Asia are at risk with the number of flights to the region being reduced, experts have cautioned.
Heathrow airport in July announced a 100,000-a-day cap on departing passengers, which is set to run until September.
The limit, which is due to a staffing crisis and Covid absences, could continue until after the October half-term, according to a letter sent by Mark Powell, the hub’s director of operational planning, to airline bosses.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has cancelled its Delhi to London flight and there are concerns that other carriers could follow suit due to Heathrow’s cap.
Jaffer Kapasi OBE, from the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, described the daily passenger limit, which is hitting people’s holiday plans and businesses which rely on overseas goods, as “absolutely ludicrous” .
He told Eastern Eye: “We have just come out of Covid restrictions and the backlog it created for the import and export of goods.
“The wedding season is underway, with family and religious commitments here and abroad.
“It is having a huge impact from travel agencies to businesses who are totally reliant on import and exports of commodities and chain of businesses which suffer.
“With the travel chaos at UK airports set to continue into the summer, we believe the government needs to urgently equip the aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), with powers to issue hefty fines to companies that break the rules. Only this will stop the chaos.
“The usual excuse of lack of staff and not trained ones should not be tolerated.”
Heathrow had 1,350 flights a day before the Covid pandemic.
The letter, seen by the Daily Telegraph, said the airport will cap the number of outbound and inbound flights to 1,100 until August 31; to 1,150 from September 1 to September 30 and 1,200 from October 1 to October 29.
There are concerns over the impact on the 102 direct flights a week between India and Heathrow.
Sean Tipton, spokesman for ABTA – The Travel Association, told Eastern Eye: “Demand for overseas travel is rapidly approaching pre-pandemic levels, with the chance to reunite with friends and family or take a well-deserved holiday.
“ABTA’s advice is to book as early as possible since strong demand results in limited late availability and consequently higher prices for late bookers.”
He added: “The decision by Heathrow airport to limit the numbers of passengers to 100,000 a day represents a fall of less than four. Although it will see a reduction in late availability seats, it is unlikely to impact on customers who have already purchased tickets.”
Thousands of passengers have suffered severe disruption in recent months with long security queues and baggage system breakdowns at airports across the UK.
Staffing for ground handling teams at Heathrow are only at 70 per cent of prepandemic levels, while passenger numbers are at 80-85 per cent.
People heading from Heathrow to Islamabad international airport in Pakistan on British Airways face the longest waits on average, according to recent CAA data. In the year to April, the average delay on the 114 flights was 68 minutes, with 73.7 per cent of flights delayed for more than 15 minutes.
Ravendrasinh Thakor, a UK ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, said: “I think this is more of an internal management and logistical issue for Heathrow than anything else. Why would Heathrow want further disruption themselves and then for their passengers?
“We are supposed to be a leader of management and a trendsetter for civil engineering for infrastructure.
“However, we are falling way behind the times. Not to mention the new visionary leaders, Dubai, Singapore and India.”
Passengers have spoken of how their family’s trips were ruined by missing luggage and long queues at airports.
Nidhi said her in-laws travelled from Delhi to the US via Heathrow.
She said: “They were told their luggage will be late and will be directly sent to their address after they claim and provide their address. It’s been two days, the website is not accepting the address.
“After two days, we started searching, and found that Heathrow airport is going through flight cancellations, delays and luggage pile-up issues.”
Another passenger who faced airport woes in the UK is Pooja, who travelled in June. She said: “We came from London to India and faced loads of issues while coming such as a delayed flight. We missed flights because of this, no next flight was given for a very long time and the whole day was wasted.”
Meanwhile, Gatwick Airport said it hired 400 new security staff in recent weeks to help ease queues.
EasyJet announced it had recruited 350 new customer service staff and is opening a new call centre in Milan to help ease delays. It will also allow customers travelling on early morning flights to drop hold baggage off the evening before they travel.
Critics have accused firms of cutting too many jobs in the industry during the pandemic. Airlines have said another issue is it takes three months for new recruits to begin their roles due to background checks, security clearance and the training required.
Kully Sandhu, director of Aviation Recruitment Network based in Berkshire, said: “Companies such as mine are frantically recruiting very heavily for the summer. Just to give you an example, we booked in 20 people to turn up [on one day]. We called those individuals prior to their arrival confirming their availability. Of those, 11 turned up.”
Sandhu added: “If we cannot get these people security cleared quickly enough, those individuals will drop out and find jobs elsewhere.”