Heathrow warns of second summer of disruption

HOLIDAYMAKERS face another summer of disruption at Heathrow, the airport’s chief executive has admitted, as the travel industry struggles to recruit staff to meet demand.

John Holland-kaye, the airport’s chief executive, warned it is “absolutely possible” that flight numbers would need to be restricted in 2023. “This is not going to be a quick fix,” he said. “It’s absolutely possible that we could have another summer with a cap still in place. It’s going to take 12 to 18 months, and not just at Heathrow.”

Heathrow announced a daily cap of 100,000 passengers passing through the airport earlier this month to try to limit disruption. The cap is currently due to be in place until September.

The spectre of caps being imposed on airlines again next year is likely to further anger carriers. A row broke out when restrictions were implemented at Britain’s busiest airport this month.

Emirates, the world’s biggest international airline, attacked the “incompetence and non-action” of Heathrow that had left the airport in an “airmageddon” situation and initially refused to cancel flights.

Meanwhile, Neil Sorahan, the finance chief of Ryanair, which does not operate from Heathrow, said the airport had failed to do “the one job” it was supposed to do by hiring enough people.

Separately yesterday, easyjet chief executive Johan Lundgren insisted it will survive as an independent airline, despite revealing recent travel chaos cost the carrier £133m. He said easyjet would seek compensation from airports, such as Gatwick, for capping flight numbers.